Out of the Ashes
by ShadowBloodNinja
Summary: Born into a dangerous world with knowledge of the future comes with a price. I am at a disadvantage already, afraid of my first death and afraid of dying again. But I will live as long as I can through this horrible burning world that I've been reborn into. I died by flames but out of the ashes I will rise and live on again.
1. Into the Flames

**_Out of the Ashes_**

 _Chapter 1_

 _Into the Flames_

* * *

I'm just going to cut to the chase. I died. I died a horrible death that happened because my brother was angry at me and locked me in my room from the outside. Our kitchen had caught on fire and I was left in my room due to my brother forgetting his anger at me and forgetting he locked me in there. My body had been too large to fit out my window as I had been a lazy pudgy teenager.

In the heat and burning pain of the fire, the feeling of all the oxygen around me burning my lungs, I didn't even notice the blackness of death come for me. I was stuck in the eternal burning forever. I had left the world screaming in pain and agony with tears cascading down my cheeks. I didn't notice at first the difference between burning and gentle warmth. All I felt was heat and that terrified me. I couldn't breathe anymore and my lungs were fighting for that air I desperately needed. There was suddenly an odd pressure on me that was demanding my body to bend to its will and then there was a freezing touch as something beside me was suddenly gone.

Then, from the embers of death I was reborn into the frigid air, screaming and crying. It was ironic how I had gone out screaming and crying with the little burning oxygen I had, only to come in and my lungs almost reject the freezing air. All around me my senses were still burning despite the cool air. I had no idea what was going on at that point in time, everything was dark and I couldn't get my eyes to open themselves. There were loud noises that were slightly muffled and I couldn't make anything out.

I had been wondering if I was in the hospital and if the firefighters got me out of the burning building. Of course, I learned later that wasn't the case. I had come to figure out when my arms and legs refused to move how I wanted them that I wasn't as large as I used to be. I had been suddenly brought to warmth and there was a beating that was so utterly calming despite how muffled it was. I stopped screaming, only because my body started to accept the air around me. But there was still a distinct burning around me and inside my body.

I figured out I was a newborn infant through my eternal burning when I was continuously lifted and manhandled by many hands. Not to mention I was fed only milk. My taste buds hadn't quite come in to service yet, everything tasted burnt and tasteless to me, but through that charcoal flavor I could taste the slightest hint of milk. It didn't taste entirely like milk, not the milk I was used to anyway.

I couldn't open my eyes for what I later learned was two months. In that time I had learned that I wasn't somewhere that spoke English, rather I understood the language to be Japanese. I wanted to groan at that upon hearing the good morning that I remembered from watching many animes and the welcome homes and the I'm homes and so forth. Japanese would be a bitch to learn considering I already knew English. English I had used my entire life, I wouldn't forget it after two months of not reading it.

By the time I opened my eyes I had learned my mother's name was "Mikoto" and that I wasn't the only baby in the room. I must have had a brother or sister, maybe a twin as they didn't sound any older than myself. After being born I never cried or screamed again, of course I couldn't entirely control a baby body and the fact that I shit myself made me want to cry. Being a baby was also incredibly boring, although it didn't help that I didn't open my eyes. But I couldn't, it felt like they were glued together. I now understood why babies cried so much.

When I finally did open my eyes, everything was extremely blurry for the first few minutes. It was either dawn or dusk when I opened my eyes, orange light spilling in through the strips in the blinds. They painted the ceiling and I stared up at it until I could move my eyeballs and look around. With this new determination and the knowledge that I was at least a month, I started my campaign to roll over and move my head. I managed the latter as I had moved my head often during my blind days.

I managed to roll over after what felt like hours and wondered if no one would notice but highly doubted it as we were carefully monitored babies, someone was always in here. It wasn't that they made noise, no they were almost always silent. Rather, with my sense to the burning that still contaminated the air and my body, I could almost feel them. They didn't feel like burning like the air did, there were three people who visited most often.

Most often was Mikoto, my mother. What I sensed from her was a certain soothing warmth, something that made me so happy and feel so safe that I wanted to open my eyes to look at her and call her over.

Second only to Mikoto and only by a slight bit, was someone who I heard coo to us with a boy's tone. I assumed he was an older brother and I dubbed him as what could only be a spark. He was warm like mother but there was a strange apprehension I had about him. He made me feel so safe but at the same time there was something about him that made me feel like everything would go horribly wrong.

Lastly was a man who came usually once a day and I assumed this to be my father. I didn't hear his name yet, similarly to how I hadn't heard my brother's name, but he felt like wood. He was grounded and unmoving, often silent but when he wasn't silent his voice was deep and rustled like a tree's branches.

There was also my tiny baby sibling. He felt bright, like a light. And through the taste of burnt everything I could almost taste something sweet. Perhaps cherries? It was pleasant, to taste something other than charcoal.

I felt out of the corner of my burning senses, which was evidently a far enough distance to be outside our door as that door opened a moment later, and a spark was coming near me. It was my brother. He peered over the edge of the crib and I got my first, still somewhat blurry, glimpse of my brother. And in glimpsing my brother I suddenly was able to see my future as well. Dark hair spilled around his head and big obsidian eyes stared down at me with a childish wideness to them. Deep in the dark pits though there was a serious understanding already.

Uchiha Itachi leered over me, and I think that was the closest I came to crying since I had been born. I didn't cry though, I took control of that damn baby body and I stopped the tears before they came.

"Mom!" I was able to make out Itachi call out, followed by a string of words that I knew none of. A moment later my senses caught the warmth of Mikoto and the dark blue haired beauty's face appeared beside Itachi, looking down at me. Her eyes widened when looked at me and she froze. I strained my eyes to peer into the dark orbs that leered down at me from two faces and I wished I hadn't. What looked back was a fragile tiny infant with skin so pale she looked sick and tufts of dark blue hair. But what was scariest was the looks of burn scars that marred up to my jaw and down my neck. It disappeared under the collar of my jumper but I was still spooked. Mikoto leaned closer and I saw what most likely had spooked her considering she had most definitely seen the burn marks by now.

My eyes weren't entirely the dark obsidian that every Uchiha ever had. They had hints of navy blue deep in them but the hues of color hidden behind darkness was lost when I took note of my pupils. My pupils weren't black, rather they were a dull dark grey that had hints of dark blue that seemed to be black. Those odd eyes stared back at me from her Mikoto's dark eyes.

After Mikoto had examined my eyes for another few moments she lifted me and at her touch the burning beneath my skin paused for a peaceful moment before intensifying. I didn't even squirm at the discomfort, the burning was a dull burn by now. Two months of it and you get used to the days of agony. I was brought into a world full of more senses for me, in which I made a game of identifying what people tasted or felt like, and eventually we reached what I concluded to be a hospital.

I was probed by doctor's and my eyes hurt after they shined a light in them and I grumbled at them with a baby's gargles. At the end of the intrusive search they handed me back to Mikoto. I found out later that this was them trying to see if I was blind as that was Mikoto's first assumption upon my eyes opening late and then looking like that. The probing was because they tested me to see what could cause that odd mutation. They didn't find that out, they did learn that I was extremely sensitive to chakra. This came when they saw the reaction I had at them probing me with green glowing hands. The green glow entered my body and it was something akin to heating a needle over a fire and then injecting lava into my veins with said needle.

I didn't cry, no. I wouldn't cry. Rather I screamed bloody murder at them for that. And after more painful examinations they apparently had concluded I was hypersensitive to chakra. And that was how I made the connection to my burning senses. Chakra was the constant agonizing fire that burned me at every step.

On the way back from the hospital Mikoto stopped and I was able to sense a chakra that tasted like milk, ramen, and something ever so deadly that it burned. This turned out to be Uzumaki Kushina. Mikoto spoke with her briefly and let her hold me and I held in my disapproval of this action (Kushina burned). She was beautiful, with wide violet eyes and bright red hair. I found that I quite liked her voice and personality, she was very vibrant. We returned home shortly afterwards and I found myself wondering if she and Minato would really die soon.

After that hospital visit I started to roll around my crib and attempt to lift myself to crawl. I wasn't able to manage this though but I could pull myself up with extreme effort and lean myself against something. It was honestly not worth it though considering my crib blocked most of my view. Mikoto started letting Itachi take us out of the crib about two weeks or so after my doctors appointment. Here I got my first real look at Sasuke. Sasuke wasn't able to roll over yet and he cried but I couldn't blame him for crying since he wasn't a seventeen year old whose mind got stuffed in a baby's body.

A cool fall night had me sitting up in Itachi's lap while Itachi held Sasuke closely to his chest. He was murmuring to us and there was unease in the air. The scene was familiar to me and I was pondering this as I watched the trees rustle. We were sitting on one of the open pathways of the compound and looking out into the night. Suddenly, Sasuke started to cry and there was a sudden-

FIRE IN MY BLOOD. ITS IN MY BODY. GET IT OUT.

A sudden wave of burning hit me. I screamed as what felt like lava coursed through my veins and my eyes caught the orange vibrations that were reverating throughout the village. I briefly, through my pain, made the connection that this was Naruto being born, but I was too busy writhing in pain while Itachi tried to calm me. The burning coursed through my veins for what felt like forever but eventually it subsided to the casual agony I usually held. Chakra was evil in my eyes so far, it had caused nothing but pain to me.

Following the end of the Kyuubi's release and then what I assumed to be sealing into Naruto I was able to calm myself. Itachi sighed in relief when I was my usual self and the nervous looks he had been sending me were gone. Itachi looked down at me with his wise eyes that were far too wise for a six or seven year old. He murmured something to me and I babbled nonsensically back at him.

"Ita." was what I was able to make with my baby body and Itachi's eyes lit up with excitement. I highly doubted a three month old should be able to talk but Itachi didn't question it.

I receded into my thoughts again and thought about the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi incident had just occurred and that meant that Naruto most likely had it sealed away inside him. Kushina and Minato were dead and the events of Naruto were about to unfold. I knew my future, in that moment just like how when I had glimpsed Itachi's eyes.

To live, I would have to strengthen myself and find a way to survive the Uchiha massacre as well as Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, and whatever ninja were thrown at me to kill me.

I would live, and perhaps, I would even change the story line to save the characters I liked. After all, they were just characters to me at that moment. But they didn't stay characters for long.

* * *

 **AN**

 **I really shouldn't be doing another story. But I am. It's going to come back and bite me in the ass, obviously. But I just had to join in on the reborn idea. I wouldn't call her a self insert but she might have some of my qualities.**


	2. Child of the Phoenix Bird

_**Out of the Ashes**_

 _Chapter 2_

 _Child of the Phoenix Bird_

* * *

I learned my name at some point in my first year. Fushicho, which translated loosely to phoenix bird. The irony of it was lost on everyone but me. In regards to Sasuke and myself, Sasuke progressed physically and mentally slower than me. I was crawling easily at five months after training myself to do it. I was escaping my crib at six months and I scared the shit out of Mikoto several times by escaping and exploring as far as my baby endurance could take me. I potty trained myself as soon as I could walk. Language though I was horrible at. While my motor skills then escalated to me walking and my walking became a hobble run at about a year, my speech halted drastically. I could understand things that people said at around one and a half but if they spoke too fast I would have to sit there and think. Sasuke was my opposite, he was babbling short sentences at one and a half while slowly starting to walk.

It frustrated me, the fact that I couldn't get language down. I was sure when reading and writing started I would also be miserable at that. Two and a half was when Sasuke was able to hobble run and I was running fluently. I could also climb which was hell on Mikoto and Itachi. Itachi loved me and Sasuke to bits and it was his doing that brought me to social situations.

I stared at the playground that Sasuke had sprinted to at the idea of making friends with the other children (This was after he had shyly hid behind Itachi who encouraged him to make friends). There were other almost three year olds there and I eyed the drooling snots with narrowed eyes. Then I looked at Itachi as if to ask "What the shit is this?" and he beamed down at me.

"Go make friends, Fushicho-chan!" I translated a full second after he said it. I narrowed my eyes at him further. I heard giggles of girls who were Itachi's age and had brought their younger siblings to the park or were there playing themselves. Ah yes, Itachi was a handsome little bugger. His ponytail was coming in nicely and he was adorable. I myself was a devil child.

Mikoto loved having a daughter to dress up when I was too young to escape. But now I ran free and little kimonos didn't get by with me. My hair was roughly shoulder length and I didn't let her brush it, rather I ran my hands through it to get out the worst of the knots and then left it alone. The beautiful dark blue hair fell in messy strands around me and my bangs almost hid my dark eyes. I had a high collared shirt that hid the lower half of my chin and definitely hid the "birth mark" burn scar that ran up from my rib cage under my right arm and crossed up across my chest and stopped below my jaw. My skin was still a pale white other than that and I was still beyond sensitive to chakra. The forever there burning still hurt but I was used to it now. I was sure Fugaku and Mikoto noticed my sensing ability but I found Fugaku had little interest in me. Sure I was his little girl, he loved me, but as a ninja he didn't have hope in me. And I also think my eyes bothered him as they bothered every Uchiha and every adult and now, I was sure they'd bother other little brats.

I stared at Itachi from beneath my frizzy bangs, "No."

"Why not?"

Instead of answering my idiot older brother I found a nice spot beneath a tree to perch myself. I watched the little drooling brats run around and scream with joy. Instead of trying to mingle with drooling snots who admittedly could speak better than me I picked up a stick and started to drag it around in the dirt.

"Whatcha doing?" I blinked and looked up when a shadow fell over me. A little boy stood in front of me. His hair was long and brown while his eyes pearly white with no pupils. He was still too young for the curse mark and it occurred to me this was young Neji. Hinata was probably roughly my age, so Neji would get the curse mark in a year or two.

"..." I stared at Neji with unblinking eyes, hoping he'd go away. He didn't, rather he knelt down and looked at the doodles I'd been scribbling in the dirt. He didn't even comment on my eyes which was odd.

"Drawing?" He asked, owlish eyes staring at me. I nodded after a moment and looked down at it. I kicked dirt over my drawings and Neji grabbed for my stick. I held it away from him and then had an idea. He was a prodigy, right? So he had to have some form of higher intelligence.

I drew a grid of nine boxes and pointed at them to Neji, "I'm going to... tea-ch you a game." Neji repeated my stumbled sentence with a much nicer flow to it and I proceeded to teach the little Hyuuga how to play Tic-Tac-Toe in my broken hardly coherent sentences. We played many games and I took time in between my turns to glare at Itachi who was watching with an amused smile on his face.

Bastard probably shoved Neji towards me. I saw him talking to a Hyuuga member so I assumed my suspicions were correct. Neji and I's rounds ended up with our scores becoming tied at twelve-twelve. Neji caught on fast, much to my pleasure. Itachi collected a sniveling Sasuke who fell and cut open his knee and then came over to get me to leave. I bid my farewell to Neji who promised we'd play again someday. He hadn't asked my name through our playing, nor had I asked his. I didn't see Neji at the park again.

"Did you make a friend?" Itachi asked as we walked home. He was carrying Sasuke on his back while I had a hand clenched on the bottom of his pants.

"No." I shook my head and my hair flew around me, "I don't know his name."

"Too bad." Itachi murmured, "Next time then."

Too bad there wasn't a next time for Neji.

Slowly I found myself transitioning to caring for my family, which sounds really odd but to me they used to be characters. They were real now. I slowly transitioned from calling Mikoto her name to calling her Momma and then slowly Fugaku became Father. Itachi became Ita and Sasuke became Sasu. Sasuke and Itachi stayed at their full names in my mind though, Sasu and Ita were simply me being shit at pronunciation. We started learning reading and writing at three and a half (I found this a bit odd but I suppose we would be learning to fight and kill soon enough in the short lived lives of ninja) and as I predicted I was horrible at it. Sasuke took to it like a duck to water and I spent all my waking hours trying to perfect my reading and writing. I was still shaky on speech, it was like I had a lisp with some words. I won't exaggerate to you my speech as I'm retelling this to you in English. But think of a lisp and that was how I spoke in Japanese.

"Your writing is coming along nicely, Shicho-chan." Itachi told me one day as he looked over what I had written. I had fought to get my calligraphy to be the best almost four year old hand writing ever but I was still shaky on spelling and understanding.

I didn't respond to Itachi, rather I continued with forming the various hiragana and katakana that I had trouble differentiating.

Also, fuck anything kanji. Seriously. Fuck kanji.

Itachi spent all his free time, the little he was beginning to have, with either Sasuke or myself. He was already a master of his sharingan as far as I could tell and I knew he would soon be joining ANBU. He was only nine and a half presently but I knew after a year or two he would be. He developed his forehead poke, using it most often on Sasuke who demanded attention. I was quiet and preferred to sit there with my writing.

"That's wrong." Itachi told me, pointing to one of my kanji. I stared at it and scoffed to myself quietly. I crossed it out and rewrote it several more times, each time Itachi telling me it was wrong. I got frustrated and slammed the ink pen down. I breathed out deeply and suddenly coughed as the burning intensified and smoke drifted from my nose. I put a hand to my nose in shock and Itachi blinked at it in surprise.

I passed it off, praying to Jashin and god that Itachi wouldn't tell anyone about what had just transpired, and continued with my writing. I didn't get frustrated again and no more smoke came out of my nose and the burning sensation stayed at it's usual level.

Itachi didn't tell Momma or Father about it as I was never questioned. That night at dinner I had stared at him owlishly and curiously but it never came up again.

Time went by and soon at five years old the academy would start for us. I had started actually brushing my now mid back length hair and my bangs dusted down over my eyes. I wore the typical Uchiha shirt and bandaged my neck up to my jaw so that you couldn't see the "birth mark" that I had. Momma tried her damned hardest to get me to wear cute clothes but my first day of the academy I left my hair in it's usual controlled chaos and marched off with sandals, a pair of Sasuke's shorts and a shirt I knew had to be Itachi's. You see I stole my brother's clothes because they were nice and big. I was still tiny, already Sasuke dwarfed me in comparison and that was also frustrating.

Also, I had been planning over my childhood. I knew the upcoming events and I needed to change some of them. I figured to assume myself causing some kind of ripple effect that would change outcomes. Something like, say I was placed on Team Seven rather than Sakura (Dear Jashin/god/kami please no). I had to take into account myself. I was a player in this game and I was going to make sure I got things on a track I wanted.

That was my initial thought anyway, that was before I started seeing Sasuke and Itachi and Momma and Father as actual living family members. I had taken a new resolve, to try and save Sasuke. Momma and Father were lost, I had to admit. Itachi would surely massacre the clan and I knew I couldn't do anything about it. I was six years his junior so I couldn't fight him (Nor would I ever want to even entertain that thought) and to be honest, if they weren't massacred I wouldn't have an inkling of the future. I would lose so many plot forwarding points that it just wasn't worth it. That made my new focus Sasuke and how to stop him from becoming an avenger.

I felt that one of Sasuke's issues was the fact he was a little shit after the massacre. He was an emo angsty brat who had a holier than thou attitude that got in the way of everything. So, I hatched my plan that I would try and fit into as I went. That plan became get Sasuke friends. If Sasuke made friends then when the massacre hit he would have support that wasn't just myself and he would also have reason to stay in the village. If that wasn't enough, I would also have to beat humility into him so that when Naruto seemed to suddenly improve Sasuke wouldn't feel jealousy. Rather he'd just be spurred to train harder. A side note problem would be what the fuck did Kakashi make them do as their first month at least of being Genin, D Rank missions galore? I had never seen training before the Land of Waves mission.

But enough about my plans, as I'll have to change them as I go. Now as I think back on this, I was selfish. I made plans that were convenient for me and outcomes that I favored.

Itachi and Momma brought us to our first day of the academy. Sasuke and I each held one of Itachi's hands while Momma had my other hand. When we arrived I looked among the crowd of brats and picked out a few key ones I noticed. A pink haired girl was shyly looking around from the side and I could see a platinum blonde already making friends with a couple of girls. A small girl with a dark blue bob-cut so similar to my hair in color was practically hiding in her father's robes while a boy with a puppy on his head was loudly talking with another boy. A Nara boy and an Akimichi boy were talking by their parents while sitting alone on a swing I felt my eyes drawn to a blonde with whisker marks.

"Ne, Ita." I spoke up and he looked at me, "You want me and Sasu to make friends right?" Itachi seemed to look the way I was looking and I dropped Momma and his hand's as I toddled towards the swing. I approached the swing with all intentions of starting plan Make Sasuke Get Friends.

"Hey, I'm Uchiha Fushicho," I began and instantly gained a surprised look from the blonde, "My brother over there, Uchiha Sasu-ke doesn't have any friends yet. You should make friends with him. You seem nice." Curse my lisp. Every word I spoke was tainted by it but most noticeably were longer words and some names.

"You talk funny." Fuck my plan, now I am mad. Again, looking back, I had a pretty bad temper. I was stubborn and I got angry over the smallest things. But everything I got mad over mattered to me.

I narrowed my eyes at him and hit him where I knew it would hurt, "That's not how to make friends." Then I turned on my heel, thoroughly annoyed that he dare make fun of my lisp (And I could almost feel the burning ready to rise at my annoyance), and stalked back to where Momma and Itachi were watching me. Itachi gave me a raised eyebrow.

"He made fun of how I talk." I said flatly, "I'm hitting whoever does that next." Momma advised me not to and Itachi smiled despite my threat. Eventually the senseis began calling out to their classes and I was placed in a class with my brother as I had expected. Sasuke and I both had differing views on seating, I wanted front row to soak up knowledge and he wanted middle. I ended up sitting by myself and Sasuke ended up surrounded by girls.

We were five, why did the girls already have interests in boys!? Nasty. Although, I suppose ninja don't have a very long life span.

Much to my bitter annoyance our class was broken up in two halves, the first half before lunch was basic studies. We learned how to add and subtract and while most of the clan kids could already do this, they moved onto multiplication and division. I was able to do all the basic elementary school math, after all I died in Calculus B. If I couldn't do this I was a failure to my name. After that was reading and writing which was still the bane of my existence. Then there was history which I actually took notes during. Following that we learned what I'd label as science, and it was basics on biology. All in all, I was bored.

Lunch came and I didn't recall bringing a bento or anything. Luckily, Momma had made us something and had given Sasuke the lunchboxes since of the two of us I gave less shits and would probably lose it. Sasuke was already outgrowing the other kid's mentalities but he went off and played with them. I sat against the wall of the school as the other kids wrestled in the dirt. I picked at my onigiri. My taste buds had never quite fixed themselves. Everything still fought with the taste of charcoal and I had a habit of putting sugar or soy sauce on anything to make sure I could taste it. It was funny how when I was sensing someone I could easily taste them if they sensed like a taste but I couldn't taste my lunch very well.

"Um..." I blinked and looked up at the um and found Naruto standing above me, "I didn't uh, mean to make fun of you."

"Is that an apol-ogy?" I retorted, crunching on an onigiri at the same time to make my lisp even worse.

Naruto looked confused for a moment before figuring out what I wanted, "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry for saying you talk weird."

"You should think before you speak," I lectured, accepting the apology, "Some people can be real jerks about things if you make them mad." Naruto nodded and looked around nervously. I realized he was hoping I'd invite him to sit with me. Looking around for Sasuke I noticed he was looking around for me since he had thrown his bento to me when he went to go play.

"You can have lunch with me, if ya want. Sasu's coming over to eat too though." Naruto brightened, "Oh, and what's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!"

There we go, finally a name. What is it with me meeting kids and them not giving me their names? Naruto sat down beside me and I saw Sasuke approach out of the corner of my eye.

"Sasu, Us-Uoh-Uzumaki-kun is joining us for lunch." I demurred, and Naruto exclaimed to just call him Naruto to which I was pleased as Uzumaki was a bitch to pronounce. Sasuke sat down beside me and started eating his bento. Nearing the end of lunch I heard a small growl and I looked at Naruto, whose mouth was frozen open as he had been in the middle of telling the story of how he pranked someone or something the other day. Then it occurred to me Naruto didn't have a lunch. It was stupid of me to assume a five year old who had no parents made himself a bento.

"Here." I shoved my half finished bento to Naruto, "I don't like most of the stuff in that bento."

Naruto looked like I had just given him a million dollars while Sasuke snorted, "You never eat. You hate everything."

"I never said I didn't." I retorted. Naruto inhaled the remainder of my bento and when we went back in for the second half of the day I saw Naruto move his seat from the back to beside Sasuke. A girl had protested but Sasuke was more interested in the story Naruto was telling him about yet another prank he had pulled. Naruto glanced over at me and waved. I returned it halfheartedly.

I smiled to myself as I realized the front row seat was what made Naruto choose Sasuke over me. It was no surprise as our sensei, Umino Iruka, wasn't a fan of Naruto yet. Iruka-sensei started class and the academy training schedule began five year olds with stretching. It split civilians and clan kids after stretching, the clan kids already knew how to throw kunai as they received toy kunai and etc for their birthdays or already had private lessons, while civilian kids mostly knew nothing. Civilian kids and clan kids wouldn't be together for the first half of this section. Civilian kids had to learn to spar before anything else. For the second half of this section we worked together on endurance exercises such as running laps, something that resembled kick boxing, and games that actually trained your awareness, balance, and other useful things.

But my issue at this point was I had been more focused on motor skills, speaking, and writing to touch anything ninja. I know, terrible right? Reborn into the Naruto world and I don't play with anything ninja for my first five years. I figured I'd learn all I needed to learn in the academy or when I started clan training so I focused on my biggest issue which was language. I was also hoping Uchiha genes would help me out a bit since Uchihas are typically perfect.

Of course I wasn't so lucky.

For the first half of this session for awhile the clan kids would be working on kunai throwing. I had actually not gone near a single kunai yet. Just starting and I'm a horrible ninja already. A horrible Uchiha in fact. Most certainly a horrible clan child.

Iruka-sensei handed me a kunai and told me to throw it at the target. I blinked at him then looked at the kunai. I threw Sasuke a look and he gave me an encouraging smile in return. Sasuke knew that I had trouble reading and writing and speaking, so while he had moved past that to stalking Itachi while he trained, I stayed at home.

I tried my hardest, I really did. And the kunai did hit the target. However it had wobbled and spun as it flew and the pointy end did not in fact stick in the board, or even touch the board. The side hit it though and I thought the fact I even hit the target was pretty fucking good. Giggles arose from the other kids and I frowned before glaring at them with angry eyes. My glare was useless though, my bangs hiding the majority of my glower.

Iruka-sensei showed me how to properly throw a kunai after my initial blunder and I managed to hit the target with the pointy end. Sadly it didn't stick. With an encouraging "You'll get it eventually!" Iruka-sensei had me head to the back of the dozen or so clan kids. Classes were made up of thirty-six and of that class there were thirteen clan kids.

At the end of the day we were given a supply list to bring home to our parents to get for the academy and Sasuke and I walked home. We hadn't started chakra which I was both disappointed and grateful for. My hypersensitivity would absolutely without a doubt probably cause problems for me and I also had little interest in trying to manipulate the burning I had become accustomed to. But at the same time chakra was so interesting. I could do superhuman things with it and it was a necessity if I didn't want to die in the future. I suppose it was a double edged sword.

"Ne, Shicho," Sasuke spoke up as we entered the Uchiha clan district, "Why'd you invite Naruto to sit with us?"

I blinked at the question, "Well, he was lonely."

Sasuke stared at me and looked like he didn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either to be fair. I had never made an outward effort to make friends and I had rejected people more often or ignored people. Well, children anyway. If a nice adult wanted a conversation, keyword on nice by the way, then I'd have no issues. Sasuke was an exception to this rule and Itachi was basically an adult anyway. I believe he was in ANBU at this point as he was home sometimes and his skills were unbelievable.

"We're home!" Sasuke and I called when we reached the genkan of our home and slipped off our sandals. Momma's voice answered us with a welcome home and we started towards the kitchen. We handed her our lists for supplies and then we started on the simple homework we had. The math was unfairly easy, for me anyway, and while the reading took a few minutes because I was shit at it, it was also easy. Doing the history and science gave me a sudden determination to go to the library in my free time and study this world's everything. But I'd hold off on the library for awhile, I needed to learn how to throw a kunai and I suppose it'd be nice to not slice my finger off on a shuriken in front of everyone.

I finished homework before Sasuke and Itachi poked his head in as he was heading out, "How was the academy?"

I grinned maliciously, quite pleased Itachi was home for once, "Ita, I need to learn how to throw a kunai. Oh, and a sh-uriken. Can you show me?"

"Maybe later, Shicho-chan." And then Itachi was gone. I blinked at his sudden departure and looked at Momma who was cooking. She smiled at me.

"After dinner I'll show you, how about that, Fushicho-chan?"

I beamed at Momma and happily agreed while Sasuke demanded to also be a part of this training. Secretly though, I thought about Itachi's suddenly leaving. He hadn't poked me on the forehead like he does to Sasuke and the fact that he left me one of the very few times I asked him for help...

Was Itachi already beginning to drift away?

I didn't really want to lose my brother, I quite liked Itachi. He was much nicer than my older brother in my previous life. My previous brother locked me in my room and left me to die (Even if he didn't mean to, that shit is something you will remember forever), so considering Itachi hadn't killed me yet...

Yet.

The massacre.

What if, because I'm not as close to Itachi, what if he killed me?

I had a sudden new resolve to not only train to become strong but I also had to build the best relationship possible with Itachi in my remaining time. After all, we had two years at the very most before the massacre.

Let's pray to all those Naruto gods I don't fuck up, yeah?

* * *

 **AN**

 **If anything seems off, it's probably because I assume that as they're learning to be ninja they're treated as like twelve year olds would be in my mind.**

 **Thank you to the following for reviewing:**

 **Rei-chan a Wandering Shinigami**


	3. Kid Problems, Ew

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 3_

 _Kid Problems, Ew_

* * *

The first two months of the academy passed by and I was pleasantly surprised by how Sasuke and Naruto's friendship went. Around halfway through the second month the clan kids started to spar with the civilian kids. Despite the fact Sasuke's taijutsu became superior to Naruto's in that time due to him also seeking clan training he and Naruto went at it. Naruto never stood a chance, not at this point in time, but they would always make the reconciliation seal after their match which was a difference from the anime.

Sidenote, I could destroy the civilian kids very easily. It was great. Clan kids, while I had much better motor control and a more mature mind, were a force to be reckoned with. They were more durable than me and already much more conditioned to this life than me.

I myself spent those two months managing to con Itachi into training me once each time he was home. I soon became decent with throwing shuriken and kunai and I trained that when I got home. I also took to spending an hour at the library every few days. I would sit down, find an interesting scroll or book, grab a pile of dictionaries that was as tall as my midget frame, and start reading. I didn't really focus on conditioning my body outside of the academy.

The start of the third month brought the beginning of learning chakra basics. The first month was chakra theory and Iruka-sensei telling us to leave our chakra alone unless we're supervised or else we'll all die. He of course worded it much nicer but that was the basic meaning of what he said. Chakra basics really began halfway through that month where we spent a good amount of time meditating to find our chakra. I hated meditating, if you were wondering.

The real curriculum for chakra didn't really begin until we were seven because our coils would be developing for a long time. But chakra control exercises like the leaf exercise could only help make them bigger and there were many more exercises that followed that one. Iruka-sensei stuck several papers to himself to gain our interest.

"Alright, I want you to each focus on the leaf in your hand and try and channel chakra there so that it sticks to your hand." Iruka-sensei ordered us after demonstrating on the first day of actual trying to use chakra late in month four. I was hypersensitive to chakra and could quite easily grab at it. For me chakra was foreign and burning and I could easily direct this foreign object since I could differentiate it.

I pushed my chakra to my hand and stared intently at the leaf. I maneuvered my chakra and grasped at the leaf before waving my hand around rapidly for the leaf to not come off. Pleased with myself I grinned and tried to layer more chakra, hoping to see what I could do.

I think my screaming was what caught Iruka-sensei's attention first. I wasn't expecting my leaf to spontaneously combust. I had flailed my arm around rapidly, shrieking because there was a FIRE OH MY GOD ON MY HAND. Once the burning leaf was off my hand I stomped on it on the floor to put it out and took a deep breath. I froze when I noticed everyone was staring at me and Iruka-sensei was walking over at a faster than normal pace.

Iruka-sensei frowned at me, "Fushicho-chan don't practice your clan Jutsu here. Work on the exercise I assigned." I tried to explain I had no idea what happened and I was doing the exercise but I got scolded for back talking. As it turns out each time after that even when I put the slightest bit of chakra on the leaf my chakra would suddenly "spark" as it felt to me, and then my leaf would be on fire and I'd flail about until it was on the floor so I could smother it with my sandals.

Iruka-sensei got fed up with me and my spontaneously combusting leaves so he wrote a note for me to give to Momma and shoved me out the door with orders to go home and think about what I'd done. I stomped home to the Uchiha compound and sulked by walking around the compound. Momma was home but I definitely wouldn't be showing up there any time soon.

I ended up sulking by the training grounds where I found Itachi training. I sat off to the side and watched him go through various hand signs so quickly I couldn't make any of them out. After a few minutes he finally noticed my presence and turned to look at me, "Shicho-chan?"

"Ita." I replied evenly. He asked me why I was home early and I answered by shoving the note at him. He looked over the note and then with a muted look of surprise he seemed to read it over again.

"What were you doing to Iruka-san?" Itachi questioned me.

I pouted, "Nothing to him. My leaf was randomly catching fire."

"Show me what you were doing." Itachi's sharingan spun to his irises and I jumped, spooked. That was something that would take getting used to.

This world took getting used to actually. Young children walking around by themselves, weapons lying everywhere, death being common and killing being part of everyday life. People jumping from roof to roof and spewing fire and their eyes changing... It took a few years to get rid of my logic that people shouldn't be able to do those things.

Itachi ignored my jump and plucked an innocent victim from the tree. I took the leaf and did exactly as I had in class.

"Eeeeyah!" The leaf went up with a cloud of smoke and I tossed the flames to the ground while holding my burnt hand to my chest. Itachi frowned and I think he would have made me do it again had I not looked like I was ready to run.

Itachi knelt down so he was eye level with my midget self and he ruffled my hair, "I didn't see you doing anything wrong. I can ask father if you'd like." I shook my head rapidly at that. No way did I want Father finding out about this.

Itachi checked my palms over and found only minor burns that I hardly felt. Itachi wanted to bandage them but I had waved him off while distractedly murmuring, "-it's nothing compared to the burning."

Oh, shit. That wasn't supposed to be said out loud.

Itachi seemed to know I wasn't talking about the burns from the spontaneously combusting leaves and I couldn't fix my slip up. Itachi stared me down until I relented and explained, "My hyper-sensi-tivity," my lisp didn't like that word, "is bad. Chakra burns me, I can feel burning all around me and inside me." I didn't mention how I sense or how my taste buds seemed to be permanently burned.

Itachi leaned back to ponder this for a few moments. I could almost see the gears turning in his head for the seconds he was no doubt scouring his mind for an answer. Then he smiled at me and asked if I wanted to go get dango with him.

I mentally got whiplash from that abrupt U-turn in conversation. Ignoring the sudden topic change as I doubted he'd do anything with my information of how things burned I accepted and we went to get dango. I told him about Naruto and Sasuke's friendship and I asked him how his missions were. It was casual talk but the bonding between us it was doing was very much worth it. We munched on dango and returned home for Itachi.

It was actually then that Itachi was able to witness first hand my extreme fear of fire. As I had interrupted his training after waiting half an hour for his dango to digest he started training again. I followed behind him slowly, working on his stretches in a more laid back way. I couldn't follow his hand signs nor could I try and keep up with his speedy kunai and shuriken.

"Katon, Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" As soon as I heard the Jutsu name I was nearly hyperventilating as a fireball that was about the size of a car was spit out of Itachi's mouth. My body froze up in my fear at seeing the fire and I put my hands to my head and collapsed into a ball. Suddenly I was back in my bedroom desperately trying to find a way out.

I was clawing at the window. Why couldn't I fit? Why was I so big? Why did my brother do this to me? Was it on purpose? An accident? Was I going to die? I needed a way out. I had to get out. Get away from the fire.

But there was no way out. There was never a way out.

Itachi took notice of my condition after doing the technique a second time to spew out a flamethrower.

"Shicho-chan?" I probably looked as traumatized as I was, my eyes wide and my mouth tight in a fine line as my teeth grit together. Itachi asked me if i was alright, then shook my shoulder when I didn't answer.

I sat up after a moment and looked at Itachi but couldn't meet his eyes, "Will I be a bad ninja because I'm afraid of fire?"

"Everyone has fears, you learn to overcome them."

Something told me death was something you could never overcome.

That night Itachi didn't bring up my getting sent home at dinner. Sasuke sure did though.

"Ne, don't be mad at Shicho-chan," Sasuke spoke up through a mouthful of pork, "She didn't mean to."

"Mean to what?" Momma asked and Sasuke shared a sharp look with me. His face screamed "Oh shit" as he realized I hadn't given her the note.

"Nothing!" Sasuke and I both squeaked and Father looked up with interest while Momma narrowed her eyes at us. Itachi continued to eat but he watched with not a single flash of emotion in his dark eyes.

Itachi spoke up when Momma asked again and me and Sasuke exchanged a series of looks that meant I was going to kill him and that he was so very sorry and that he wanted to stay alive, "She brought home a note. She was having chakra issues due to her hypersensitivity."

The lie was brilliant. Father looked down at his food and Momma gave me and Sasuke another look before she went back to eating. After all, Itachi wouldn't lie to them, or so they thought. Itachi was also an excellent liar. I nearly sighed in relief. After dinner I hugged Itachi and thanked him for covering for me. Itachi gave me a smile in return.

That issue continued for the longest time. When the class moved onto heavier objects almost two months later I still couldn't stop bursting leaves into flames. Iruka-sensei didn't want me to light myself on fire so I wasn't allowed to try anything else or on any parts of my body other than my hand. Of course I also had no desire to light myself on fire so I actually listened for once. I had already died that way once and didn't want to try again.

As there was the sounds of frustrated groaning around me (Turns out sticking a paperclip to your foot (even bare feet) was pretty difficult) I was trying my hardest to not set the leaf on fire. I saw Hyuuga Hinata eyeing me from the corners of her pearly eyes and biting her lip while poking her pointer fingers together. Hinata, as she was a Hyuuga, could already do every single chakra control excercise they threw at us. Until we started Jutsu in our seventh year she wouldn't have much to do. At this point we were developing our chakra control and chakra coils enough so that we could perform Jutsu and Hinata didn't have the coils to perform a Jutsu yet. She could walk on the wall for about five seconds though which was actually really cool. She fainted after doing that though because Naruto bounced over to her and interrogated her on how she was doing it.

Naruto hadn't joined us for chakra control until around the middle of the leaf exercise. Naruto had boasted to Sasuke and I about how the Hokage was teaching him chakra control. And it made absolute sense. Why would you let a kid unaware he had a chakra demon inside of him try and access chakra in a building full of kids? What if Naruto accidentally unleashed Kurama upon us all? Giant chakra demon in the village for round two and this time there wouldn't be Kushina with her chakra chains and Minato. That event would kill a lot of people before someone could stop the fox.

I think that happening would honestly just kill me from the intensity of that burning chakra, but shush.

Background aside, back to reality.

"Uchiha-san," Hinata finally found the courage to talk to me, "Do you, um, need help?"

"Do you know what's wrong with my chakra?" I replied evenly. She frowned and to my surprise she activated her byakugan. I hadn't been aware that she was able to use it yet. Although it was to be expected of a main house member and she no doubt had the best control of the class currently. She concentrated in silence for a few moments before politely and quietly asking me to try with the leaf again. When I did she blinked in surprise.

"Your chakra is... sparking with chakra it's pulling from, um, the air."

I blinked and thought about it for a few moments. Then I made a hideous shrieking noise from the back of my throat that made Hinata jump and me sound like a pterodactyl, "I'm using naaaaa-ture chakra?"

For the rest of class I didn't touch chakra and immediately after the academy was over I hightailed it over to the library where I researched nature chakra so severely that Itachi had to come find me when I didn't show up for dinner.

"Shicho-chan, the library's closing."

"Shh, I'm reading." I replied instinctively as I turned from the textbook I was reading to flip through the dictionary I had beside me. Vocabulary was still a bitch for me in reading. Fuck kanji. Itachi looked over my shoulder and scanned what I was reading.

"Nature chakra?" he questioned. I slammed the book shut and found that I really didn't want Itachi to know that I was accidentally pulling extremely dangerous chakra out of the air on accident.

I gave him a big smile that we both knew was absolutely meant to distract him from the books, "Dinner, you said?"

And then we returned home. Unfortunately chakra wasn't the least of my childhood worries at that time. Momma noticed that I hadn't made any friends at the academy (Naruto was Sasuke's friend in her eyes). My anti-social behavior wasn't allowed, evidently. Momma had a sudden passion for trying to make friends for me since I couldn't and wouldn't do it myself. I fought this at every turn. All the other Uchihas my age I had zero interest in and when she tried throwing me at a few other girls my age I denied them similarly.

Then we met my childhood mortal enemy, or at least in his eyes I was his mortal enemy. His name was Bakuhatsu Obu and we clicked like water and oil. He was the son of a successful kunoichi (My Momma's old friend from her Chunin days) who used Genjutsu, fire Ninjutsu, and explosives. She also ran the seduction classes for the older girls. I would be enrolled in her class eventually. Seduction classes followed kunoichi classes and I found it odd that as young as ten years old I could learn to seduce. I wouldn't even have boobs at that point so seduction would be pointless.

"My name's Bakuhatsu Obu." he had greeted begrudgingly while his mother, who was an exact clone of him with their shared dark pink hair and orange eyes, glared daggers at him. He was a year ahead of me in the academy and you could tell he had about as much interest in meeting me as I did meeting him.

I had hardly given him a glance and I saw Momma almost wither at my snub, "Uchiha Fushicho."

Obu definitely noticed my snub and he seemed to be offended. His first thought rather than to call me out on my snub was to grab me by my hair and pull me to meet his eyes. Then he laughed at me.

"Ha, what's wrong with your eyes?" His laughter didn't stop and I looked at Momma once before I dutifully kneed upwards and down the six year old went with a cry. I flipped my hair over my shoulder as if to taunt him and I pulled one eye lid down while sticking my tongue out at him.

"What's the matter, getting beat by a girl, Bu?" When his face turned scarlet red at me missing the O in pronouncing his name I was pleasantly pleased to find that Obu's new name was Bu. Momma smiled when she saw the grin that game over my lips at his annoyance and after that day of meeting Bu, he became my most seen playmate.

"Why doesn't Sasu have to come?" I grumbled to myself one day when we were going to meet Bu and his mother, Onna, for the spring festival. Momma had wrestled me into a kimono for the festival and much to my chagrin it was a light yellow with pink cherry blossoms and a darker pink obi. When we met with Onna and Bu Momma happily shoved me forwards and Bu wasn't able to look down on me. His mother had most likely wrangled him into his yukata, it was a deep green with a manlier gold floral design (He was wearing a girl's yukata, I found out later but he swore the floral design was the manliest possible). His obi was a deep pink-red that matched his hair and my own obi.

I snickered, "At least I'm a girl and get away with being cute." Bu's pink hair was pulled back into a stubby ponytail as it was long enough to dust his shoulders.

"At least I am cute." Bu replied with animosity I hadn't expected. Momma blinked at it and Onna sighed before yanking Momma away and exclaiming that we'd make up. Bu gave me a nasty glare.

"I could have been home. Training. But nooooo, my mom wants me to come play with you." Bu huffed and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You think I want to be here?" I returned his snark, "I could be home. Training."

Bu continued to give me his nasty look before he sighed and seemed to fix his yukata before he reached forward with his much tanner than my own hands and wrapped it around my wrist. I blinked in shock as he looked away from me, "My mom wants us to have fun. So c'mon."

I ended up actually having fun at the festival. Bu ate more food than I thought humanly possible while I ate things that were sweeter than I'd have liked in my past life. After all, I had my permanent burned taste buds. Bu was bored by my inability to win at the fish catching game and we both won prizes at a throwing game after we denied being academy students. I passed as a non-Uchiha because of my eyes.

"You're not so bad, I guess." Bu had told me as we sat down on a bench in the park.

I looked at him, "I know I'm great."

Bu rolled his eyes but didn't say anything in regards to that.

I don't want to bore you with my day to day life of my fifth year of living (Being that young is boring) so I'll just give you the statistics. My lisp didn't get any better, when break came for the academy I was about average, and I continued with my chakra issues. I had the lowest possible score for chakra control (We didn't learn the three E ranks until third year) but my grades in everything else kept me from failing. Father wasn't too pleased about this but my hypersensitivity couldn't be helped.

My sixth year of living as Uchiha Fushicho was probably one of the most important years of my childhood. My sixth year was the year I put my second plan into effect.

Plan Don't Get Murdered By Itachi is a go.

* * *

 **AN**

 **School started for me. Ugh. Let's not think about how busy I am going to be. AP classes, pre-college course on Sundays, out of school sport, driver's ed. I'm going to die.**

 **Also ew, filler chapter that has been sitting on my laptop for a month with me forgetting it's done.**

 **Fun Fact \- I just wanted Fushicho to have a friend she could call Bu. He does have plot relevance though.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

 **EverRose808  
PurpleRawan  
Thomas Drovin**


	4. When I Woke Up

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 4_

 _When I Woke Up_

 _Disclaimer_ : Guess what? I'm a fanfiction writer. No, I don't own Naruto. I own Fushicho though. She's mine.

* * *

Plan Don't Get Murdered By Itachi was all about me becoming one of his favorite people in the world. We went to get dango almost every day after the academy unless he had a mission and he helped me with reading, writing, and training. Most importantly though was he was actually a huge help with chakra.

Itachi, after that one day in my fifth year of living where he found me reading about nature chakra, had kept a close eye on me. So close that whenever I trained my chakra he was there with his sharingan activated and an intense look of concentration. I wasn't knowledgeable on what the sharingan could pick up so I had no idea if Itachi was aware I was pulling nature chakra from thin air.

It was my sixth year of living that I finally stopped setting every leaf I tried to stick to my forehead on fire. It was also this event where Itachi learned one of the reasons why I was hypersensitive to chakra.

"Yessssss!" I was dancing around while the leaf stuck to my forehead, "I did it!"

Itachi was watching with his sharingan activated. I continued to revel in my joy that I finally could use chakra by dancing in childish glee. Finally Itachi stopped me from dancing and asked me to stand still. Itachi staring at me with those creepy sharingan eyes was terrifying. The sharingan was not a pretty sight if you didn't know. It was unnatural and unnerving especially when it stared at you; it felt like it could stare right through you into your soul.

Itachi frowned, "Shicho-chan, do you feel odd when you pull on your chakra?"

I shook my head. Pulling on chakra was just pulling at the burning although I suppose the fact it burned was unusual.

"Your chakra looks like it's different. Like... you have more spiritual than physical. It should be the opposite at your age, you couldn't have meditated enough to have the amount of spiritual chakra you have." Itachi frowned, "It's like you have the spiritual chakra of two people."

Ooooooooh. I get it.

That's ironic actually. What if this body already had a soul? It already had it's average even chakra. But then my soul, one entirely unused to chakra and already mature, hopped into this body. Bam, now there's too much soul and too much spirit. Hence I now suddenly have too much spiritual chakra.

I shrugged at Itachi and attempted to play it off, "Does it matter? I can stick a leaf to my forehead now! Look!" I poured the best act of innocence I could into my features as I stuck another leaf to my forehead.

Itachi didn't continue but there was a crease between his eyebrows and his face was stuck in an inquisitive thinking expression. I needed to change the subject.

"Your sharingan is so cool, I can't wait to get mine!" I squeaked desperately.

Itachi paused and deactivated his sharingan, "I'm sorry, Shicho-chan. It's unlikely you'll get the sharingan. Most women in the clan don't and with your eyes like that..."

Wait.

Wait a minute.

What the shit. That is so unfair.

I want a sharingan. The sharingan is like so overpowered it's not even funny. But, I supposed an unlikely isn't an absolute answer. Besides, I was an abnormally. Anything could happen.

With a few moments of silence between us, as if to mourn my lost sharingan, we went to get dango. While sitting on the bench outside the shop with Itachi was the first time I saw Itachi drop his guard. For a split second Itachi's eyes were suddenly watching at me with a fierce look and he looked vulnerable and naive. The naivety was gone and replaced by what could only be described as love.

It was this moment I knew I succeeded in becoming one of Itachi's precious people.

But this success would later come with a price.

Itachi stopped supervising my training as harshly as he did before I could stick a leaf to my forehead. Time passed by and I continued to not make friends and antagonize Bu whenever Momma set us up together. Bu would be the closest thing I had to a friend other than Naruto but Bu would deny that as hard as he could.

"Shicho-chan," Itachi asked me one day as we were eating dango. It was raining heavily and Momma had made the dango herself for us since our tradition of going was ruined by the downpour, "What are your plans for the future?"

I swallowed the dango I had been chewing happily, "Plans for the future..."

That was a good question. I couldn't tell him my actual plans. But I figured a bland answer would be good enough, "Huh, I guess be strong enough to live."

Itachi looked at me a bit oddly. Not as bland as I intended I suppose. It could have done without the live part. Although that was true. I did want to live and I would have to become strong to do so in this world. So Itachi couldn't really find anything wrong with it other than finding it a bit weird for someone my age to say.

"What do you want for the future, Ita?" I asked. Mostly to change subject but I actually was curious.

Itachi had to think about it for a few moments and his answer surprised me, "I'd like to have a family when the world is full of peace." At my expression Itachi added, "But for now, I'd like to make ANBU." Don't worry, ANBU is next for you, Itachi. This upcoming year you would make it. And the following year, massacre the clan after becoming an ANBU captain.

We finished our dango in silence and from then on, the days became a countdown to the massacre. I was anti-social in school and didn't make any friends. Momma continued to set me up with Bu and my sixth year went by quickly. Itachi became an ANBU as he was supposed to and I found my seventh year beginning.

Let me say now, fuck those academy Jutsu.

Jutsu were obnoxious. Each one required a different thought process for me to break down to the point I could use it. Again, I was near the bottom of the class regarding these Jutsu. But unlike my younger years I was determined to pull my grades up. I needed to learn Jutsu to become strong.

Oh, and then Shisui ended up dead at the end of our seventh year. Boy, that started ringing alarm bells in my mind.

I knew the massacre was coming but I didn't exactly know when. The anxiety that pushed me was overbearing and I nearly developed the same bags that Itachi had under his eyes recently. Both of us looked like we were the walking dead and for entirely similar reasons. Itachi was already beginning his seperation from the clan with his different ideals. Sasuke didn't notice the new tensions arising but I certainly did. Father started to train Sasuke more and prefer him to Itachi. Certainly we were getting close to the massacre.

With death and destruction on my doorstep I worked as hard as I could to try and survive the impending doom.

The ending of my seventh year and beginning of my eighth was filled with even more anxiety. But eventually I got a jittery schedule down. Seventh year we learned the basics of the academy Jutsu and the beginning of eighth year we started to apply them in mock situations. There were quizzes on henges, drills on replacements and games we could play with the illusion clones if we were good enough.

I had the clone Jutsu down pretty well except I couldn't get my eyes right for some reason. My eyes were always light with a dark pupil instead of dark with a light pupil. I had the same problem with my henging. Really my eyes looked like my eyes in my previous life but only I would ever know that. Unlike the other kids I didn't require the mantra of speaking the Jutsu out loud but I suffered where I couldn't move with my henge yet and my clones couldn't do much other than stand there. And my replacement Jutsu was an absolute mess. I could barely control the general area I switched to and I couldn't replace myself with anything smaller than a dummy my size.

But finally, after months of worrying and planning, the day came. The academy let out that day at normal time and Sasuke and I started our walk home. As we passed by the library I paused, "Ne, Sasu, I wanna grab a scroll on the replacement Jutsu we're learning. Want to wait?"

"No, I need mom to help me with homework. I'll see you in a bit." Sasuke waved to me and I took my time getting the scrolls that looked useful and heading home. The librarian at this point knew me from me researching everything that gave me trouble.

When I reached our clan district I knew something was off when the atmosphere was tense and I couldn't feel anyone else. There were dull reminescents of people but as I walked further into the compound I couldn't really sense anything.

Then I realized.

I dropped my scrolls and backpack to sprint and locate Sasuke or Itachi's chakra. I found Sasuke's first and standing by it was a new taste. This taste was... off. It tasted like pollution and gasoline with a slight sensation of what I call the perfume smell. But it wasn't the perfume smell that you would smell here in the Naruto world. Here the smell of perfumes were much nicer and gentler, smelling like actual scents of nature. The perfume smell that I was tasting in this chakra was that average perfume smell from the old world that you would smell. One that your mother or aunt or grandmother would wear.

I turned the corner and it felt like I was ripping in two.

Standing above the bright cherry tasting light that was Sasuke stood the pollution. I had never seen her before. She had what I would describe as a shovel face with a pronounced jaw. But as horrible as that sounds on a woman she was actually beautiful, with short layered off white hair and piss colored eyes behind sharp glasses. Several hitai-ate were wrapped around her waist, right thigh and forehead. Each one had a scratch through the village symbol and carved into it the word for kill. The only one that didn't have kill on it was the one across her forehead that had the symbol for Kiri. A long jagged sword was gripped in her hand and she tilted her head when she saw me.

"Itachi didn't kill everyone?" she murmured. She stepped towards me and my mind was whirling.

Who was this?! Where was Itachi? What was this? This wasn't right! She didn't belong! What had me being here done!?

I gripped at my head and she started to walk towards me while dragging the sword through the dirt. I saw Sasuke. I registered his taste was a bit faded.

Sasuke wasn't moving.

 _Oh my Jashin._

My world was violently ripping. Everything was falling apart. And suddenly, my mind seemed to be filled with clarity. It was almost as if my mind went into autopilot and told me "Don't worry, I got chu". That smoke that came from my nose so many times in my childhood suddenly wasn't just smoke anymore. Suddenly, I was so very hot and smoke was billowing from my nose while there was an intense heat just crawling up through me.

Everything was burning and I was so aware of that burning. It was moving inside of me. It was alive and ready to burst out of me. The burning around me was _mine_ and it was _angry_. How could burning be angry?

I didn't register that my mouth was open with the beginnings of small flames ready to sneak out and that my hands were moving in hand signs for a replacement followed by a clone to take my place. Around me there was smoke and I felt like I was once again locked in my room with flames surrounding me and smoke choking me. The woman was faster than me for sure. As soon as my body began making hand signs she was at me, her sword ready to cleave through me. I was going to die here. I was going to fail.

Itachi wasn't having that bullshit.

Suddenly I was on the sidelines and Itachi was at the woman's throat. She let out a shriek of surprise and absolute terror before she evaporated into water and was gone. Very anti-climatic but as soon as she saw Itachi she must have known that she was outmatched. Her taste was spreading throughout the air and I couldn't pinpoint an exact location but just on the edge of my senses I could taste dirt, plastic and an inferno. That was definitely Tobito.

I crawled to Sasuke with my body starting to not respond. My vision was shaking-no my entire body was rattled. Everything about me was quaking like I was experiencing an earthquake. Perhaps this reality bitch slap was an earthquake.

Itachi knelt beside Sasuke to examine him. But Sasuke was horrible. My cheerful loving adorable brother... the needed avenger... Sasuke was...

Broken.

His eyes were closed with blood dribbling from them. Chunks were taken out of his face-his body from the jagged sword and he didn't have a right leg anymore.

This was my fault. I grabbed at my hair and pulled, suddenly screaming my throat raw and crying.

I KILLED SASUKE.

I FUCKED IT UP. THIS WORLD WAS DONE FOR.

One look into Itachi's eyes should have landed me in the Tsukuyomi but Itachi had just as many tears dribbling from his Mangekyō as I had dribbling from my own dark eyes.

"Th-is was-n't suppo-sed to happ-en!" I wailed with my crying and lisp making it nearly incomprehensible, "I ki-ll-ed Sasu-ke! I ki-ll-ed him!"

Our eyes connected and reflecting in Itachi's Mangekyō were a pair of one tomoe sharingan in each of my eyes. But those tomoe weren't black. They were light grey, just like my pupils.

Itachi with his blood stained hands pulled me to him by the sides of my head and whispered, "I'm sorry, Shicho-chan."

And then I was stuck. I watched Itachi kill everyone and it felt worse than i expected. I knew those people who were being cleaved down like nothing. But it was nothing compared to the pain I was still feeling regarding Sasuke. When it ended I had one last look at Itachi before I knew nothing more.

Or I shouldn't have known anymore. But of course when one thing goes wrong it becomes a domino effect of everything going wrong.

I was standing in prison with dark cement brick walls and heavy iron bars. There was a single torch for light on the side of one cell and I walked into the light. Inside the cell it illuminated a pair of dark eyes staring at me from the darkness.

" _Hello, Veronica_." a voice in English greeted me. I hardly registered it was in English and didn't say anything. I was beyond mentally exhausted and hearing my previous name obviously spelled trouble. I read fanfiction. I knew something was up. But everything was already so fucked over whatever happened next wouldn't matter.

Sasuke was dead.

Everyone would be dead eventually.

" _What, don't like English? Alright_." the voice-it was a female-demurred, "Japanese then. I prefer Japanese too."

"Who are you?" I managed to ask.

The voice laughed, "Uchiha Fushicho. Or is that you? Look down at yourself."

I wish I didn't. But I did. Oh, I wasn't Uchiha Fushicho anymore. My body was heavier and I was kind of chubby. My skin though wasn't how I remembered. It was burned beyond recognition and honestly looked a bit like beef jerky. Putting my destroyed hands to my face didn't help. There wasn't any feeling left in them.

"Look in the puddle. It's at the edge of my prison." the voice told me. I stepped forward and there was a puddle collected in an indent where the cell's door would open. I was a thing. By thing, I mean _thing_.

My face-the thing's face was conflicted. Half of it was my face-Veronica's face. Veronica's face was burnt to a crisp with a single light colored eye staring out. But on the right side of the things face there was Uchiha Fushicho's eight year old face. But the burn scar wasn't there. Fushicho's pale skin ran down in the same place as the burn scar as real skin. The skin was a scar over the burns. Veronica's light brunette hair was burned short while Fushicho's dark blue mane was pulled back behind her ear.

"What are you, you're wondering." the voice hummed, "Well, I suppose you're an it. You are Veronica, but you are Uchiha Fushicho."

I looked at the darkness and felt ready to cry, "Just tell me what's going on. Please."

A short laugh, "You're stupid, aren't you? You've read the fanfiction. You know exactly what I am. I am the Uchiha Fushicho you kicked out of that body. I am that extra spiritual chakra and the reason you aren't dead from nature chakra. I'm the reason that woman didn't kill you and I am stuck in you until you die. But if you die, I die too."

"But there wasn't supposed to be an Uchiha Fushicho." I stressed, or was I stressed? At that point I was so done with everything, "Why are you sentient? And why now to appear?"

"I'm like a tailed beast in that I am sentient chakra. That's what a soul is, or so I assume. As for Uchiha Fushicho, she was supposed to be absorbed into Sasuke. You know, twin eating twin in the womb or whatever. But for some reason Sasuke didn't absorb her. I was supposed to be born. And yet, I got shoved out of control and locked inside a very interesting mind." she was polite in answering but sounded bitter and practical. I took her chance to live.

I felt like I was being hit by a truck and she leaned a bit into the light. I saw skin and muscle tissue. She wasn't a human. Not quite, "You, Veronica, are going to be thrown into something you didn't want. Sasuke won't be the avenger if he's dead. You have to be. You will be Sasuke."

No.

It was an immediate response on my head. I didn't want to be Sasuke. I didn't want to be a whiny asshole who Orochimaru lusted after and who had to go through so much pain, trouble, and effort to become undefeatable. I didn't want anything to do with being the avenger. I was supposed to be a side character that influenced Sasuke to stay. I was going to be safe.

"You are in the perfect position. Why wouldn't you want to be the avenger?" mused, I didn't want to call her Fushicho but what could I call her? Not like she would help in giving herself a name, "Your mind can't be tampered with by anyone. I'm here and I can boot them out or torture them in your mind. You can naturally use nature chakra and convert it into fire. You are basically immune to most Genjutsu because I can spike my presence and knock you out of it. Because you weren't used to chakra from your previous life you are hypersensitive and can notice Genjutsu without me as well as chakra signatures. You already have a sharingan and you are a motherfucking Uchiha. You know the future-"

"No, I don't know this future." I shook my head.

"But you do. If you become Sasuke then everything will be fine." she tried to convince me.

But no. I knew nothing would be fine, "You lie. Already things are wrong. That woman cleaved down Sasu. I don't know who she is."

"Just because things are changing doesn't mean that you can't adapt. Besides, you're already on your way to becoming an overpowered main character. You won't be Naruto of course but you can become Sasuke. You can surpass Sasuke." she giggled to herself, "Why won't you accept this? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity."

I scowled, "My brother is dead. My family is dead. I have died once and I don't want to die young again."

"Well tough luck. You're going to die young if you don't make yourself Sasuke." she paused and relaxed back into her darkness, "Open my cell doors while you're here. I exhausted myself taking control back there and keeping you alive. While your soul is sensitive mine isn't. If it's open I can take control much easier and keep us alive when you're too busy being conflicted by change and shock."

Tempting but I didn't want her anywhere near taking control of me. I didn't want this thing to be in power. Before I could say anything through, her eyes widened and she sighed.

"Ah, we're out of time. You're waking up. But remember this, Veronica. I am always here and whenever you need me, I will keep us alive."

And then I woke up.

* * *

 **AN**

 **The plot is mine now. Also, you should go to my profile and vote for the distant future pairing since that will eventually be a thing. I'm a fanfiction writer. Romance is a thing.**

 **Fun Fact \- I actually hate this chapter but can't make it any better.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

 **Thomas Drovin (I love your reviews, you must spend time on them. I appreciate it)  
** **time-twilight**


	5. Take A Hold

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 5_

 _Take A Hold_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fushicho is my baby though._

* * *

I was blinded when I woke up. There was a light above me that was shining down and I had to close my eyes immediately after opening them. I sat up slowly and misjudged the distance between the light and my head. After almost cracking my head open on said light I peered around the room through half lidded eyes.

I wasn't in a hospital room. At least not a resident room. The floor was white tile and the walls were gray. There was a dark window to the side and the only light came from the one above me. The door was closed and I was laying on a gurney.

What.

Then the door opened before I could begin to think about where I was and what had happened. Walking in was a man in a lab coat followed by a strong familiar presence. The Third Hokage moved slowly like a feeble old man but I could taste the power from him as he followed the medic to my spot. He tasted of cigar smoke, trees and what could only be described as power. The medic behind him wasn't nearly as interesting, only tasting of mint and that gross grape or cherry medicine you had in the old world.

"Fushicho-chan, I'm glad you're awake." the Hokage told me with his kind eyes hiding what he was thinking and feeling, "What do you remember?"

I felt like I was already in an interrogation but I figured it best to answer as close to the truth as I could, "Ita k-killed everyone." Add a few stutters to make it seem like I was emotionally distraught. Not that I wasn't effected, don't get me wrong. I just watched my brother die. But at the time I was running on autopilot. I was a logical person even if I did have a temper and stupid moments.

"How do you know he killed everyone? You only found your brother when he was injured." the Hokage inquired.

Well shit.

I couldn't tell what his motive was but clearly he came in here to mind fuck me (At least in my eyes that's what he came in here to do). I had to stop and think for a few seconds and I stared at the Hokage as I thought. My mind was a bit muddled.

Finally, I just let my temper spark.

"How do you know what I saw?" I hissed, "You weren't there. You didn't see Ita covered in blood and Sasu dead on the floor-" I paused and looked at the Hokage oddly. There was no way... I was clearly imagining the odd situation and my idea wasn't reality. I mean, it couldn't be. Not after what I saw.

I took a chance, "Sasu's... alive."

The medic spoke before the Hokage, "Yes. Uchiha Sasuke recently got out of surgery and is in stable condition."

I actually burst into tears as I felt a good deal of my tension melt away. The Hokage and medic politely waited until I managed to stop crying. I wiped my eyes on my arm and looked at the Hokage, "He'll be okay?"

The Hokage exchanged glances with the medic and then the Hokage took a seat on the edge of my bed. They didn't tell me Sasuke's future, but not answering gave enough of an answer.

"You were correct, Fushicho-chan." he said softly, "Itachi killed the entire Uchiha clan except for two- you and your brother."

So the Hokage didn't know about that woman. Interesting, I wonder if Itachi, when reporting, said anything? Or... could she have been an acquaintance of Tobito? Tobito helped in the massacre so if he had an acquaintance this time around because of my meddling in the story...

"What will happen to us now?" I asked blandly. My mind was still reeling.

"Sasuke will be in the hospital for a long time, Fushicho-chan. We've cleaned the first few blocks of the Uchiha district so you can return home or you can take an apartment for yourself if you don't want to return. When the hospital releases you then you will be able to return to the academy." the Hokage paused to make sure I was listening. I found myself thinking that he was unloading a lot onto an eight year old who just witnessed her older brother kill her family and her twin get hospitalized but then again...

Ninja. Ugh.

I was released from the room after a few more minutes where the medic examined me with his burning chakra. As I left I turned and looked at the label above the door I left from.

Now the question is, why had I been in surgery?

The Hokage noticed me look at the sign but I tried my hardest to not show that I found the room odd for me to be in. The Hokage dropped me off at the room that I was sharing with Sasuke. Sasuke was... a sight.

They had somehow reattached his leg and healed all the chunks taken out of him with minor scarring. His eyes were bandaged and when I looked at his leg there were stitches holding his leg on with them still regrowing it back on. I sat on the edge of Sasuke's bed and grasped his hand gently with my own.

He was awake and immediately asked, "Who is it?!"

"Me, Fushicho." I answered to calm him. He relaxed.

"Shicho, the Hokage said everyone is dead... he said Itachi killed them." Sasuke whispered, his voice cracking.

"Ita saved me." I told him, "He didn't harm you. There was a weird woman there who was hurting you when I got there. She would have killed me if Ita didn't scare her off."

"But still... he killed everyone. What are we going to do?" Sasuke sounded like he was ready to cry.

I bit my lip, "Well, live. We're alive and we need to find out why that happened."

Sasuke was silent for a moment before he asked a simple question.

"Why?"

And this was a moment that would change everything. This was the moment I would change Sasuke's focus. Instead of focusing on hunting down Itachi and killing him, I would focus him away from that. I would focus him away from the hatred.

"Sasu, don't you find it weird?" I asked quietly, "Ita is strong. But Father was strong. Momma was. The other clan members. One strong ninja, against many strong ninja? No, something is weird here. And what about that woman? I've never seen her before."

Sasuke was silent.

I sighed and leaned over to kiss his forehead, "I'll take care of you now, Sasu. We'll get through this. We'll become ninja. And we'll learn what really happened, yeah?"

I thought Sasuke fell asleep from how silent he was. I was kind of annoyed that he would fall asleep during such a crucial moment but then, he answered weakly, "Yeah."

As it turns out, things would spiral out of my control pretty easily. First off, I was out of the hospital the next day and I had to return to the clan compound all by myself. I would be expected back in the academy the next morning and I was now a rich little brat. I had a majority of the money of the clan and I would also be getting money from an orphan fund. Sasuke and I both counted towards the orphan fund so we would get plenty of money to add to our already full account.

The clan compound was extremely creepy when I finally arrived back. Luckily our home was close to the gates and within the cleared blocks so I was able to return. But walking through our now cold home was hard. Momma wouldn't greet me anymore or make delicious food. Father wouldn't be there to silently observe and offer helpful advice or occasionally buy me a small gift. I had been his little girl after all.

Now, I was a little girl all alone.

Good thing I was also an adult stuffed into a child.

I locked Momma and Father's room so that Sasuke wouldn't get into it when he returned. I also set out into the village to get food that had spoiled. I also definitely needed cookbooks so that I could learn to make food.

Going to the shopping district made me a pariah. Everyone stared at me, one of the two Uchiha survivors, as I walked with my bags of groceries and an arm balancing three heavy cookbooks.

"Isn't that the girl...?"

"She's one of the two surviving Uchiha..."

"Poor child. Her brother massacred them all."

I didn't want to hear them talking about me. I already had to deal with their atrocious signatures so why did I have to hear them too? Pity. I didn't want their pity. Their pity was worthless.

In my angry loathing I knocked into someone and my books fell from my arms. I apologized and bent down to collect them.

"Maa, it's alright. I wasn't watching where I was going."

That voice was familiar. I looked up and my heart jumped. Gravity defying silver hair and a mostly covered face with a single dark eye observing me passively. Hatake Kakashi stood before me with his signature book held shut with his finger marking his page.

"I wasn't either." I managed to murmur, lifting my books and starting to go around him.

"Let me help." Kakashi offered and before I could deny him he grabbed my groceries and started to walk beside me.

We walked in silence until we reached the clan compound and I turned to thank him. Kakashi nodded to my thanks and disappeared in a burst of smoke. Expecting something like that I grabbed my groceries and put them away. That night I ate my poorly cooked first attempt at the easiest recipe of the easiest cookbook.

The next morning as I was getting ready for the academy there was a knock on my door. As I tried to brush my hair I rushed to the door and opened it despite the fact I was still shirtless with just my bindings wrapped around my ribs up. The Hokage stood on my doorstep and I looked down at myself, entirely unimpressed that I didn't think through answering the door like this. Greeting your military leader half dressed while brushing your hair certainly wasn't a good impression.

The Hokage didn't show any negative reaction, rather he smiled down at me like a grandfather would his grandchild and greeted me, "Good morning, Fushicho-chan."

"Good morning, Hokage-sama." I returned the greeting politely.

"Are you ready to return to the academy?" he asked as I gestured for him to come inside. As I was taught by Momma I set some water on the stove to boil for tea (If I could make the tea that would be great, hopefully we had cheapass bag tea around here) and I quickly pulled a random shirt on over where I had been finishing my bindings when I answered the door.

"You have an odd birthmark, Fushicho-chan." the Hokage mused as I hunted through the cupboards. My bandages were only half finished. Brushing my hair could tear them so I only wrapped up my chest before I finished my hair.

"Mhm."

The Hokage continued, "And your eyes."

"Mhm, ah hah!" I found the tea bags.

With the tea bags I was able to make tea for myself and the Hokage. As we sipped at our tea we stared at each other and the Hokage decided that today was another good day to mindfuck me.

"Fushicho-chan, did you know you awakened your sharingan?" the Hokage asked casually.

I started to sip at my tea to buy myself a moment to think, "I guess I did."

How did he know I had my sharingan? I was passed the fuck out when I was found. Did Itachi tell him?

"To learn to use your sharingan I've arranged a private tutor for you." the Hokage smiled and I paused. My mind thought back to me crashing into Kakashi the previous day and now I was beginning to believe that was no accident.

But, I gave the Hokage a wide smile anyway and said, "Thank you, Hokage-sama!" With Kakashi as a teacher, surely I would get some strength. And beginning early was definitely a plus.

"You'll meet your tutor outside the academy every day after your class ends. He will find you." The Hokage finished his tea and bid me a bright farewell. After he departed I pulled that shirt off and continued to try and finish getting ready. Of course there was yet another knock on the door and I didn't even bother grabbing a shirt again.

"Who could it be now?" I wondered. Figuring it at least wasn't the fucking Hokage this time I answered the door in my half dressed state again.

"Gah!" Bakuhatsu Obu, better known as Bu, jumped back a good three feet and fell back onto his ass. Bu looked like he was prepared for the academy with his pink hair left in a wild mess around him and his green hoodie and blue standard shorts.

"Bu?" I tilted my head to the side. Why would Bu be here?

Bu's face turned to the same shade of pink as his hair, "Put a shirt on!"

I looked down at myself and jogged inside to pull a shirt on. I returned to the door with a shirt and properly greeted Bu this time by inviting him inside. I didn't bother making tea for Bu and he made himself at home at the table while I continued to brush my hair. Bu's eyes scanned me several times before he broke the silence.

"So uh, my mom, she uh, sent me." Bu looked away.

I hummed, "What did your mom need?"

"She wants me to walk you to the academy." Bu answered. He shifted from sitting on his knees to sitting back with one knee raised and his arms hugging that raised knee.

"I know where the academy is." I retorted. Bu for once didn't rise at my tone.

"I know." Bu watched silently as I packed my bento (Another poor excuse for a meal, just like my dinner the previous night) and I grabbed my bag.

Bu gestured to his neck when I approached him to leave. I blinked and clapped a hand to my neck, realizing I forgot to finish my bindings. But I didn't have time to fix that so I just ducked my chin down into my high collar and Bu and I left my empty home.

"It's creepy how empty it is here." Bu said as we walked through the main street to get to the exit.

I agreed, "Yeah. It's like a ghost town."

Bu stared at a blood stain that couldn't be removed easily from a white screen on one of the buildings we passed.

"How can you walk through here so calmly?" Bu questioned, "I... I didn't even know anything here but you and I can barely breathe thinking about it."

"You want to be a ninja. Suck it up." I told him bluntly. Bu straightened his back and put on an air of pride. But I could still see through his facade.

When we broke out of the compound and into the village streets I still got whispers and stares. This unnerved Bu but halfway through our walk he grew a pair and turned to me.

"I'm sorry, you know."

"For what?" I asked.

"For what happened." Bu looked away from me.

"You don't need to be." I said.

Another block went by without conversation before Bu, once again, broke the silence between us.

Bu took a deep breath, "Um, I'm here for you. You know."

I didn't give that a response and Bu lost the rest of his nerve until we reached the academy. As we went to enter the building Bu, a sudden burst of courage, pulled me to the side and wrapped his tanner arms around me.

Bu was... hugging me?

"I'm sorry for what happened. I'm sorry I can't understand how you're feeling. And I'm sorry that I can't help you, even if I want to or not." Bu squeezed me a bit harder and this time, much softer he whispered into my ear, "But I am here. For you. So, talk to me if you need to."

Then he let go and left me standing there, my back rigid and my face heating up as I felt tears settling in my eyes. Damn my body for acting that way. I managed to get rid of my blush and tearing eyes after mentally chanting that Bu was a stupid nine year old and that I was an adult in the body of an eight year old. That I didn't need to cry over deaths I was prepared for and that I definitely didn't need Bu.

During class I went on with my day as normal. During lunch Naruto asked me where Sasuke was and Iruka called him away as soon as Naruto had opened his mouth when I couldn't answer right away. Instead of eating lunch in my usual spot where Naruto could find me I moved to the other side of the playground and behind a tree and some shrubbery and tried to eat my bento.

"That looks disgusting."

I nearly jumped. My heart did stop for a moment and I turned to find a boy had settled in next to me. He was a bit average with a heavy tan trench coat and dark curly hair that settled down over his eyes. I could see the bottom half of goggles sticking out from his bangs and dirt absolutely covered this kids clothes.

I almost replied with "You look disgusting" but I didn't have nearly that much pride in my bento to do that. Instead I looked down at my bento and agreed, "Yeah. It does."

"Here." the kid, from a bento he lifted from his side, pulled out a pair of chop sticks and lifted one of the octopus hot dogs that every kid had in their bento. I myself hadn't bothered trying to make one and just tried onigiri and some sashimi.

Can you get food poisoning from badly made sashimi? Oh boy. We're going to find out.

"It's fine-" I tried to insist but curly hair gingerly placed the octopus on top of my onigiri (It had fallen apart instantly and tasted a bit odd). I stared at it and it stared back at me with its sesame seed eyes.

I picked it up with my own chopsticks and plopped it into my mouth. While the burning definitely diluted its taste it wasn't the worst taste I had ever had before.

I didn't grimace at the burning so I managed a small smile to the kid, "Thanks."

He nodded at me and turned to face away from me. We sat there in silence until I heard footsteps heading towards our hiding spot. Curly hair tucked his head down into his collar and Bu popped his head around the tree.

Bu, his eyes landing on the boy next to me, gawked and gestured at me to come to him. I slowly stood, nodded to the boy, and was hastily dragged by Bu across the playground.

"Do you know who that is!?" Bu gasped, looking back towards the tree.

"No." I didn't really care either.

Bu looked scandalized, "That was Aburame Kyuketsu!"

I wracked my brain to try and remember what I had heard the name before. When I couldn't think of it, Bu shook his head at me. Bu leaned over to whisper to me, "Aburame Kyuketsu, but he's not a real Aburame. He's really creepy and all the girls in my class are scared of him. Wherever he sits the girls sit as far away as they can."

"So?" I retorted, "He seemed fine to me."

Bu gaped at me, "But look at him!"

I narrowed my eyes at Bu and jabbed an accusing finger at his hair, "And look at your hair! It's pink! Don't make fun of someone when they can easily make fun of you."

Bu took a moment to register what I had said then his mouth dropped and his eyes narrowed angrily. He grabbed my collar and yanked it down, pointing at the scar birthmark that was uncovered today.

"I can't believe how you can be!" snarled Bu, "You have no right to say that when you don't look entirely like an Uchiha!"

He paused, realizing he had probably just opened fresh wounds considering everyone had just died. But, Bu was stubborn, and instead of apologizing he pushed me away and stormed off. Unperturbed by Bu's outburst, I returned to class with little care towards Bu's feelings.

After the academy ended I nearly knocked into Bu when I was heading towards the trees to wait for Kakashi. Bu gave me the stink eye and made a show of avoiding me but I ignored him. I waited beside the tree until all the other kids were gone. When there was no sign of Kakashi after a few minutes I got out my review work and began to work on the history portion.

"Hey, you!" a child's voice called out, breaking me from my work. I looked up and found a pair of pearly eyes staring at me from the gate of the school. It was an eight year old Hyuuga Neji.

I blinked at him, "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Hyuuga Hinata, have you seen her?" the angsty brunette questioned.

I shook my head and he groaned in frustration. He headed towards the doors to the academy but paused and turned to look at me over his shoulder.

"You look familiar." he told me.

I shrugged, "So do you. You look like any other Hyuuga to me."

Neji's face got red and he sputtered at me for a moment before he slammed open the door to the academy and then shut it with even more force.

"Maa, that wasn't very nice." I jumped at the voice from right next to me. I turned and found Kakashi crouched beside me calmly with his eye focused on the Icha Icha book in his hands. As soon as my attention turned to the book, Kakashi slammed it shut and pocketed it.

"I don't care." I crossed my arms.

"I'm your new tutor, Uchiha-chan." he gave me an eye crinkle that I assumed was accompanied by a smile, "You should care that my first impression of you is a little brat who lashes out at others."

I started to pack up my review work but I gave him a stink eye as I did so, "And you haven't made the best impression on me yet."

"Why, I helped you with groceries yesterday, isn't that a nice thing to do?" Kakashi retorted.

I snorted, "That was as strangers. Now we're acquainted and you're rude."

"We aren't acquainted yet. You don't know my name." Kakashi stopped smiling and gave me a curious look, "Or do you?"

I smirked, "Hatake Kakashi, yes?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and I responded to the challenge, "You're known as Sharingan Kakashi, the Copycat Ninja. You're supposedly my tutor due to me unlocking my sharingan, yes?"

Kakashi didn't seem displeased, "Well. You're a well informed brat, at least. I might be able to work with you."

* * *

 **AN**

 **I hate school. I don't have life anymore.**

 **Fun Fact- Fushicho doesn't particularly like bullying but prefers to be a bystander than an upstander.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

 **Enbi  
PurpleRawan  
time-twilight  
Thomas Drovin  
Lulumo  
KawaiiMinato  
Guest**


	6. Mild Taste

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 6_

 _Mild Taste_

* * *

Kakashi led me to one of the many training grounds that were completely inside the village. These grounds were mostly used by Genin and lower Chunin so they weren't as damaged or as large as the ones further out that were reserved for higher Chunin and Jounin. Kakashi had me set my things down by a tree and we began with simple exercises so Kakashi could get a grasp of my abilities.

"One hundred one handed push ups, fifty on each hand." Kakashi chirped, crinkling his eye at me while crouching down to read his book.

I stared at him for a moment, questioning if he was sane and serious. Then I looked at my small child limbs and internally questioned if I looked like a buff child or something. Finally, I looked at Kakashi like he had two heads and said, "I'm an academy student! We're lucky if I can do one hundred regular push ups!"

Really we were lucky if I got to fifty, but he didn't need to know that.

"Then today you'll learn. Get going, I want to be done with this in an hour."

I refused to lower myself to gaping at Kakashi and instead I grumbled while lowering myself to the ground and attempting one handed push ups. Kakashi leaned against the tree and started to read while occasionally looking up to observe my push ups. While I want to gloat to you and say I was able to do the push ups on time flawlessly but I most certainly did not. One handed push ups were hard and as I said I could barely make fifty regular push ups. I had managed to do them in an hour and a half but Kakashi was highly unimpressed by the quality of the push ups.

"I'd give you about a twenty-five." he told me.

I stared at him, "Uh, what?"

"You did about twenty-five correctly and the rest were so awful you're lucky I'm not making you redo them." Kakashi crinkled his eye in amusement while I furrowed my brow in annoyance. He gave me my next assignment which was two hundred curl ups. Those I was able to do but he still looked highly unimpressed.

"What could possibly be wrong with them?" I questioned harshly when he glanced between me and his book like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Simple," Kakashi said, "I can do twice that amount in half your time."

"Bullshit." I immediately called and Kakashi actually did look at me with a raised brow. I suppose bullshit wasn't language I should be using at eight years old but it was too late now. To get his attention off my language I demanded he prove it. I did my curl ups in fifteen minutes and Kakashi simply set his book down, waited a moment, and fucking crinkled his eye at me again.

"Done."

"You didn't do anything!"

"I simply did them too fast for you to see."

I glowered at him and he picked his book up again, "For the sister of Uchiha Itachi, you're not very strong."

"Well, I'm not Ita am I?" I retorted hotly.

Kakashi hummed and shut his book before placing it into his Jounin vest's pocket. He knelt down so that I was a bit taller than him and he looked into my eyes. I made sure to channel my annoyance into my glare but he didn't make any outward reaction to it. We stared at each other for a few minutes before he sighed quietly.

"You aren't ready for this." he announced.

I was stunned for a moment before I argued, "Of course I am!"

"No you're not. Can you even call your sharingan to your eyes?" Kakashi challenged. I bit my lip. I assumed it was just channeling chakra to my eyes but to be honest I was kind of afraid to do that. What if I lit my eyes on fire or something?

When I didn't do anything Kakashi nodded and stood up. He put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair, "Come and find me when you can do that."

"Can I have a hint at least? How do I turn my sharingan on?"

Kakashi shrugged at me and then he was gone with a shunshin and a small cloud of smoke. I felt my temper flow over me and I kicked the dirt angrily before gathering my things. I visited Sasuke in the hospital before returning home.

For the next few weeks I developed a routine. In the morning I would get ready and practice gathering my chakra internally and spreading it through my body. I needed to be sure that I could call it to my eyes without accidentally setting myself on fire or boiling my eyes or something. Then I would walk to the academy by myself and at lunch I would eat with Aburame Kyuketsu. Kyuketsu was an all right kid once you got past how grungy he appeared. He was quiet, as all Aburame were, and while he actually wasn't very friendly he had a dry sense of humor that was hidden beneath his sarcastic quips, thinly veiled insults, and occasional backhanded compliment. All in all, he was an intelligent piece of shit that I could stand long enough to have lunch with.

And then there was Bu. Bu, I was beginning to believe, was bipolar. Or perhaps he was just a moron. But either way, he was acting like an odd child. He hadn't actually spoken face to face with me since our argument but I certainly had seen enough of him. He followed me like a shadow sometimes in the morning and afternoon when I went to or returned from school.

"Ne, Shicho." Sasuke asked me one day, "When will they let me see again?"

They hadn't removed the bandages from his eyes yet but from what I vividly remembered, they had been cruelly destroyed. So I simply pat Sasuke's head and said, "Hopefully soon, Sasu."

Then, one day, my daily routine was broken by a not so chance encounter. And this deviation could possibly have been one that caused a domino effect of unfortunate happenings.

I was in the market shopping like I did most days I didn't have class. I was at the vegetable stall looking through the various veggies that I knew I could somewhat deal with when cooking. I was able to hear my name called through the bustling crowd and I looked up to find a familiar shade of pink coming towards me, but it wasn't Bu. This was his mother, Onna. She was, oddly, dressed in a Jounin vest over a light colored battle kimono. She stopped by my side and I found that in her basket she had several vegetables and some meat from the butcher wrapped up neatly alongside a stack of explosive tags and one kunai.

"I haven't seen you in awhile, Fushicho-chan. How is Sasuke-chan?" Onna asked brightly. She was a very friendly woman and the one time she had met Sasuke he had hissed like a cat when "Sasuke-chan" had been her way of addressing him. It was perfectly appropriate to call him at that age but that didn't mean he liked it.

I shrugged and turned back to the stall to lift an eggplant and debated if trying a new variety of plants would enhance my shit cooking, "He's healing. Slowly."

"Such a shame, will he be held back a year in the academy?" Onna casually questioned as she took a place next to me and took something that looked like a radish and shoved it into my hands while placing the eggplant back.

I scowled at her actions but figured she was much more experienced than I was in this area, "Hopefully not. I think they're going to tutor him to keep him in this year."

"And you?"

I paused, "What about me?"

"I've heard rumors." Onna smiled, "They want you to apprentice under Hatake Kakashi."

I snorted, "Yeah, that's not happening."

"Oh?" Onna hummed and shoved several more radish looking things into my hands.

I nodded and she asked me why I wouldn't be apprenticing under Kakashi. I explained what had happened while paying for the radish things and other vegetables I had bought.

"That's really unfortunate. I know the village wants to advance you to the next class."

That was news to me and I sputtered for a moment before crying, "What?! Why?"

Onna blinked at me with her bright orange eyes like she had expected me to know. Then she sighed, "Well, the elders want to have an Uchiha in active forces as soon as possible. By apprenticing you to Hatake-san you would easily be able to graduate at the very least a year sooner and begin missions as his apprentice."

I felt myself pale at the mention of the elders. Of course, didn't Danzo have a thing for orphans? But I was untouchable, wasn't I? I mean, a sudden change from a cute little girl to an emotionless pawn was a huge change and I don't think it would go completely unnoticed since I was one of two Uchiha left and everyone had some kind of pity for me. And wouldn't he have to kidnap me for that or try and seduce me with the concept of power and village loyalty?

I took a deep breath as I realized something; I was eight years old. Eight years was a long time to remember a detailed plot, especially one so long and colorful as Naruto. What if my memory was fuzzy? Obviously I knew the big events but what about the little things? I tried to recall Danzo's backstory and things about Root but I was drawing a bit of a blank. Sure I knew the generalness but where were the details? What else was I forgetting if I couldn't remember everything about one of my biggest enemies? In the story he was a bit of a minor antagonist but in real life he was a major one for me. Sure I could tell you everything about the Akatsuki and Tobito because they were the main focus. They were going to destroy the world after all; but what about the minor antagonists?

"Fushicho-chan?" Onna's voice brought me back to reality and I gave her a fake smile.

"Yeah?" I inquired brightly.

She narrowed her eyes but continued with where she had been directing the conversation, "I noticed that you haven't been speaking with Obu lately."

"We had an argument..." I rubbed the back of my head and tried to get my heart to stop frantically beating from my thoughts on Danzo.

"Fushicho-chan I apologize if I'm blunt but you don't have any friends." Onna stated and I gaped at her audacity, "And while Obu is my lovely son and I want him to keep only worthy close comrades, I feel I should advise you begin with making friends."

She continued when I was too stunned to reply, "Physical power isn't the only power, Fushicho-chan. You'll find networking is incredibly valuable. I know you've been speaking to Aburame Kyuketsu but that's one boy who isn't even in your class. When you graduate you'll need comrades who you can learn off of and as you're going now, you'll be alone and weak."

"Excuse me-" I tried to sputter but Onna just steamrolled right over what I attempted to say.

"I know you've been through an extreme hardship but that is no excuse for you to push people away. One of my contacts saw you antagonize a Hyuuga boy and you've always outcasted yourself from your peers. Do try to make friends, Fushicho-chan." Onna gave me a brilliant smile and started off into the street. I hurried after her and caught up with her when she was on the outskirts of the residential district.

"Onna-san!" I called and she ignored me. I tried against and she only turned onto another street. I huffed to myself and found my temper was rising steadily but I swallowed it down and followed her down that next street. And I almost smacked my face into someones chest.

I rubbed my nose and apologized quickly, "Excuse me-"

"Fushicho?"

I blinked and found myself staring into Bu's own amber eyes. I looked around him to find Onna smiling quite smugly. So this was her plan all along; insult my pride and get me to run into her stupid son.

"What're you doing around here?" Bu questioned awkwardly.

"Evidently being tricked into being social." I replied shortly, glaring daggers at Onna. Bu turned a questioning look to his mother.

Onna, radiating innocence like a sun, chirped, "Why, I ran into Fushicho-chan and thought it's been awhile since you two had a play-date!"

"Mom!" Bu cried while blushing, "I'm almost ten now, I don't have play-dates anymore. It's called training together."

I snorted and Bu glared at me from the corner of his eye. I antagonized him, "You sure you don't play during your "training" Bu?"

Bu looked scandalized I could possibly suggest such a thing, "I'll have you know I've been training really hard-"

"He's been training because he has a crush, Fushicho-chan!" cooed Onna as she wrapped her arms around her son and nuzzled her face into his hair. Bu's tan face turned an interesting shade that could rival his hot pink hair.

Bu cried, "Lies!"

Now, I'm sure you're wondering at this point how this could possibly be a catalyst for an ominous future. After all, it seemed like Bu and I were making up, yes? Well, life likes to make things ironic. Incredibly ironic in fact. Now, at this point in time everything seemed peachy keen but soon this event would alter my future far more than I would have thought it ever could.

That night I ate dinner at Bu's. Onna showed me how to pickle vegetables and that was where that radish thing came in. See, that was a daikon.

"You didn't know what it was but you bought it?" Bu sniggered at dinner while I poked at the pickled daikon radish I had made and wondered if it's pleasant appearance was only a facade and it would kill me as soon as I took a bite.

Bu watched as I took a bite of my not so prideful daikon radish and immediately my face lit up. Through the burning I could taste it; a pleasant and mild taste that didn't taste like I had made it. Bu grinned at my face and dug into his own meal that his mother had made and Onna smiled smugly as I now ate the pickled vegetable that would become my specialty for a long time to come.

That, I must confess, was a good day.

* * *

 **AN**

 **This is a bit shorter than my usual chapters but I think it came out decent. I meant to update much sooner but at least it's out now :) And Happy New Year!**

 **Fun Fact- I have, at this point in time, no idea who Fushicho will be paired with. I have a few ideas of what I can do.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **01Trycia-chan01  
DarkDust27  
CalicoKitty402  
PurpleRawan  
Thomas Drovin  
Alice**


	7. Childhood

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 7_

 _Childhood_

* * *

The days passed by quickly when I made up with Bu. We began walking to the academy together even when I was a brat to Bu and every Sunday I ate with Onna and Bu. It was... dare I say nice? I suppose it was. I continued to eat lunch with Kyuketsu though even when Bu would glare daggers at me when I denied having lunch with him. Also, I found out who Bu's crush was.

Oh yes.

Now this is a good one.

It was the day before our day off (See, what sucked about the academy was you only got Sundays off) and I was leaving the academy without Bu. I liked to be able to visit Sasuke on Saturdays for longer periods of time because we had off the next day and if Bu wasn't at the gate waiting for me then I was leaving him behind. As such it was one of these days.

I was about a block away when Bu, red faced and breathing heavy, caught up to me. Before I could get in my usual sardonic comment Bu had grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into an alley way where he pulled me with him to the floor behind a dumpster. I pinched my nose and glared at him while demanding he explain.

Bu, out of breath, gasped, "I'm an idiot."

"And this is news to you?" I retorted. Bu didn't rise at my comment like he normally would. Instead he leaned back against the wall and stuck his head in his knees.

"Fushicho, I hate your brother."

I bristled, "How come?"

"Because Sakura-chan likes him!" Bu sniffed.

I blinked. Then I thought about it for a moment. Then I connected the dots. I was dead silent while Bu stared at me from the corner of his eye for a good minute before I burst into laughter. It felt good to genuinely laugh that hard and I had to clutch my stomach and I ended up wheezing and snorting after awhile. Bu looked so taken aback when I was done that I had to take another minute to stop laughing from looking at his stupid face.

"Goddamn it Bu." I cackled, "Haruno Sakura? With the bubblegum pink hair?"

"It's more of a rose pink, Fushicho." huffed Bu. That set me into a fit of more cackling but I managed to calm myself back to my usual self after this one.

"Alright, I'll bite." I said while rubbing my eyes to make sure there were no tears from my fit, "What about her could you possibly like?"

"What isn't there to like? She's smart and pretty and amazing!" Bu gushed. I blinked at the odd sight and Bu straightened his back and he stared up at the sky between the roofs above us.

Bu, grinning, confided to me, "But I _really_ like her hair."

I gave a pointed look to his hair, "Yours is pink too."

Bu returned the look, "No not the color! Idiot, it's really nice and long and well cared for and soft!"

At this we both took a look at my own hair. My hair was still that dark blue color from Momma and it was long and unruly. I didn't really take such good care of it so there were a lot of split ends and damaged hair that I didn't bother doing anything about. I had a hard time brushing it so half the time I gave up and I probably looked more like an Inuzuka than an Uchiha with how grungy I always appeared.

"Obviously," Bu chuckled haughtily, "You wouldn't know anything about hair."

"At least mine isn't hot pink and girly, Bu." I snapped, standing up. Bu scrambled up beside me and clung to my arm.

"Don't tell anyone Fushicho!" Bu cried, then, added as an afterthought, "Especially my mom..."

"How about I agree not to tell if you'll stop pissing off Aburame-san." I offered. It took Bu a few moments to realize I was talking about Kyuketsu.

With a pained groan he moaned, "Fiiiiine, I'll leave the false Aburame alone."

I smacked the back of his head and freed myself from his clutches. Bu walked with me to the hospital where we parted ways. The usual nurses gave me cheerful waves as I walked to Sasuke's room and I met one of the biggest surprises of my life when I slid open the door and entered. Beside my brother's bed was the Third Hokage and beside him were the two boring elders and my enemy, Shimura Danzo.

They probably heard me when I choked upon seeing them and they turned around. I immediately looked to the Hokage with wide eyes and I avoided eye contact with Danzo. The Hokage smiled cheerfully when he saw me, "Fushicho-chan, good afternoon. How was your day at the academy?"

"Um, good afternoon. And it was... fine." I said cautiously, sneaking a look at the other two elders.

"Shicho?" Sasuke asked from the bed, "They said I can see again soon!"

"How soon?" I immediately inquired.

"Next week." the Hokage supplied helpfully, "But there's a small problem."

I tried my hardest not to look at Danzo as I demanded what problem there was. The Hokage gestured to myself, "You aren't old enough to take charge of him medically and until you become a Genin you cannot. So there is no one who can authorize the surgery."

I almost called bullshit but then I remembered who else was in the room with us. Danzo must not have liked me flunking out of Kakashi's apprenticeship immediately.

"However," The Hokage's eyes twinkled, "If you apprentice under Kakashi then you can technically be treated as a ninja and an adult."

"He-" I was cut off by motherfucking Danzo.

"Hatake-san has agreed to take you under his wing again and to train you, as he should have the first time." Danzo's voice commanded authority and sent shivers down my spine. He was old and wrinkled and his voice crackled and lashed about in the air like lightning. To say the least he sounded like an authoritarian dictator. He could have given Hitler a run for his money I bet.

"Ah, okay." I said pretty meekly.

The Hokage smiled, "Kakashi will meet up with you soon."

Fuck my life, man.

.

I didn't hear from Kakashi that day so the next morning I went about my normal routine. It was around noon when I was finishing my shopping that Kakashi stopped by my home. He was waiting outside when I arrived home and I pointedly ignored him when I went inside but he followed me.

"How rude, I didn't even invite you in." I drawled as I set my basket down on the counter and began to unpack.

Kakashi blatantly ignored my comment, "Can you use your sharingan yet?"

"Of course not." I retorted, "I need training for that kind of thing."

"I'm sure you know the theory behind it, you should have been able to activate it by now." Kakashi told me, "It's been a few weeks but it wasn't meant to be that long. You failed your first test, by the way."

I sighed, "I have a problem with my chakra."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and I explained, "Sometimes my chakra sparks and lights whatever I was focusing my chakra on or in on fire. Obviously I don't want that to happen to my eyes."

Kakashi actually rolled his eye at me and ordered, "Channel your chakra to your eyes."

"But-"

"Now."

"Can-"

"Now."

I bristled and, out of my anger, easily channeled my chakra to my eyes and then glared at Kakashi. He suddenly became much clearer and I could see blue lines running through his body. Kakashi crinkled his eye at me, "Was that so hard?"

"Let me put my fu-er-freaking groceries away." then I turned around and started putting my food away. A few minutes later and I was crossing my arms in my yard with Kakashi standing in front of me. He looked very smug and I was highly disgruntled.

I really don't want to admit how stupid I was but, "How do I turn it off?"

That was my first lesson with Kakashi and man, is he absolutely shit at teaching. Well, it might have been me. Either way, me and Kakashi just couldn't click at first. Sure he was an alright character but as an actual person he was annoying. He was always late, always had those stupid excuses, and he often did things to rile me up and enjoyed replying with eye crinkles and shrugs. And in the beginning he made fun of my fucking lisp. I had gotten a lot better with it but it was still pretty noticeable. It hadn't affected my speech drastically where I actually stuttered or the word just completely got away from me. But there was just the sound of my voice where you had to pause when hearing my voice for the first time because you knew there was something wrong with my voice.

Long story short though in regards to Kakashi, I hated him for that portion of my childhood.

While I say he was shit at teaching, that's a bit of an extreme. He's really shit at teaching about the sharingan. His sharingan and mine differed in the fact his wasn't actually his and mine could be turned on and off. After he taught me how to turn the stupid thing off we got to the basics of being a ninja. We really had to work on my speed because sure I can predict and see things clearly with my sharingan but I need the physical ability to keep up with it. So we really trained speed and I hated it because I was slow.

Oh, and we started me on tree walking. It is really cool to be able to walk up and down walls and I felt like spider man when I first started because I cheated and used my hands and feet to get a hang of it.

But that poor, poor tree. That tree, the one in my backyard, is now forever scarred. See, I had a similar problem to the leaf when I first started. I set my sandals on fire a couple times and the tree more than a couple times. So there's a permanent burned indent on that tree. At least I have a story to tell when people ask why that tree is a charred mess.

We also worked on my three academy Jutsu. We refined my replacement technique and now I could substitute with some smaller objects but the problem stayed in my henges and clones. Those goddamn eyes. While Kakashi hounded me to perfection that stayed. The eyes from my previous life still stared at me from every single clone and every single henge I made. Kakashi was just as stumped as I was on why that was happening but he figured we could leave it for now since I was still a Genin and it was changing _something_ about me.

But I'm sure you're all curious about what happened with Sasuke. As promised Sasuke was released and came back to live with me but he will be forever scarred. The bandages came off his eyes and it was a shocker when I saw them. His irises were a bit lighter and his pupil looked like they were sightless. But he could see perfectly fine except they wanted him to wear glasses. My brother looked adorkable in glasses, just saying. And now he looked a bit more like me.

And his body would continue to have the scar tissue from where his body was shredded and his right leg had a scar that would never fade from where they had to reattach and regrow his leg. The rest of his scars would fade and shrink, never gone but they would become lighter and less noticeable. It didn't lessen his little fan club though, that remained as strong as ever.

Oh, Bu tried to get the last laugh on the crush thing by the way.

"How's your brother doing?" Bu questioned me at lunch one day when Kyuketsu was absent so I was actually eating with Bu. Sasuke, who had been back at the academy for a few days and was steadily catching up in the school work, was off with the guys. He had picked up his friendship with Naruto right from where they had left it and it was only blossoming stronger. Now that Sasuke was also an orphan he could relate to Naruto so there was one less hurdle in their relationship.

I looked up to where Sasuke was playing ninja and watched him get Naruto right in the back of the head with one of the toy shurikens, "Sasu is right back where he left off. It's surprising actually."

Bu hummed, "Even though he got pretty roughed up he still has his fans."

We both looked to where the majority of Sasuke's fan girls hung out. They took a seat by the building and would giggle and watch the boys, specifically Sasuke. Sakura was currently among them but she was distinctly separated from Yamanaka Ino.

"Oh yeah, your precious Sakura-chan likes Sasu." I snickered. Bu jumped at that and frantically made sure no one was around to hear it.

Bu narrowed his eyes at me, "Oh yeah? Well what about your fan club?"

I blinked at him, "Uh, what?"

Bu, in what was supposed to be a discreet motion, jerked his head to the side and I peered around him. A group of boys who had been playing a different game were sitting in a group. They didn't seem to be eyeing Bu and I so I told Bu he was a liar.

"I'm not lying, they're just smarter than the girls who love your brother. Besides, you hiss and claw at anyone who gets near you so they prefer to watch from afar." Bu huffed.

I put a hand to my chest and dramatically gaped at Bu, "Me? Hiss and claw at people?"

Bu rolled his eyes at my sarcasm and returned to his lunch. I did the same. But what I hadn't realized was that group of boys had noticed me looking at them. They had murmured among each other before electing one of them to come over and talk to me.

"Excuse me? Fushicho-chan?"

My head swiveled around at the boy's familiar way of addressing me. Typically I was Fushicho-san to everyone in school or maybe even Uchiha-san because of how distinctly anti-social I was. He was an average boy, I didn't recognize him so he wasn't important. Nothing about him was striking, no odd coloring like Bu or a rumor about him like Kyuketsu.

"Yeah?" I tilted my head and Bu was shooting me a look that screamed 'I told you so!'.

The boy looked back at his group briefly and then looked at me, "Um, are you... interested in anyone?"

I blinked. Bu was turning a shade of red from holding in his laughter and I was a bit flabbergasted that this random kid had just come up to ask me this. Also, I was eight. I was not dating an eight year old. Maybe when I reached puberty the teenagers could appease me but definitely not an eight year old.

"No." I stated so there was no room for argument. He looked a bit put off but had the courage to further ask, "Is there anything you uh, look for in a guy?"

"Nope." I went back to my lunch. The kid looked a bit heartbroken by my treatment but shuffled back to his group. Bu finally let out his laughter.

Bu chortled, "How do you have fanboys when that's how you treat people?"

"Obviously I'm adorable." I quipped. This allowed Bu to laugh for another minute before he tried to take a bite of his octopus shaped hot dog and he almost choked on it.

"Yeah right, with that hair?" Bu wiped his mouth on his arm and allowed himself to calm down before taking a sip of his bottle of green tea.

With an innocent smile I inquired, "Ne, Bu, you said Sakura-chan's hair is soft when you said you liked her... how would you know?"

And how glorious was the spray of tea that came out of Bu's mouth as he sputtered and tried to explain that he certainly hadn't purposely (For that reason) grabbed it during a sparring match (That he had gone easy on her in but still won).

Exasperated I took a bite of my pickled daikon radish and through my crunching I mumbled, "I can't wait for puberty hormones to make this so much worse."

"What?" Bu looked at me oddly.

"Nothing, nothing." and to end the conversation I chugged my own bottle of green tea.

That Sunday, Onna invited Sasuke to come with me for dinner. While Sasuke was disgruntled because he held a grudge against Bu for calling him Sasuke-chan along with his mother he still came.

"Onna-san's food is better than yours." grumbled Sasuke as we walked to Bu's.

"Hey, I make a mean pickled-"

Sasuke cut me off immediately, "That's all you can make."

"Don't be mean Sasu. I try." I pouted at him.

"I want to live to make Genin, Shicho." Sasuke retorted with an eye roll behind his adorable square framed glasses. He looked like an absolute dork but he was an adorable dork and had Momma been around she would no doubt have to beat girls off him with a stick when he was a teenager.

When we reached Onna's Sasuke puffed his chest up when greeting Bu and Bu did basically the same thing. I don't really understand ninja boys so don't ask me. Were they marking their territory or something? Was it a boy thing? Was it because they didn't like each other?

Either way, dinner was a pleasant affair. Sasuke, somehow, ended up with Onna promising to show him some fire Jutsu because she was had a fire affinity and Bu had nearly died when he thought she was going to show him her explosive Jutsu. Bu wanted to show off the fact he could make explosions already but Onna shut down the idea even though even I wanted to see that.

"They're being boys, Fushicho-chan." Onna told me quietly as Sasuke and Bu both argued over whether Bu's explosions would be better than Sasuke's fire.

I made a disgruntled noise in the back of my throat, "I have to deal with this twenty-four hours a day. I get your son at the academy and Sasu at home."

Onna smiled, "Then you should be used to it."

I just sighed at her. But those times were good. And in the future, I would look back on them and smile.

* * *

 **AN**

 **This chapter was almost 6k words. I just looked at my word count and literally cut out half the chapter and boom, two chapters done. Well, almost two chapters. There's a time skip next chapter because nothing happens for awhile. Childhood is boring.**

 **Fun Fact- I decided I liked the style of using a . for spaces in stories. I saw an author I like do it and was like "Ay that looks good" (On mobile anyway...)**

 **Thank you so much to the following for reviewing!**

 **Rei a Wandering Shinigami  
Hellfire000  
lizy2000  
KawaiiMinato  
Manaliac  
kksambo  
Blackbird0  
Thomas Drovin**


	8. The Gold Eyed Man

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 8_

 _The Gold Eyed Man_

* * *

I was nearly ten years old when Kakashi decided that I was ready for an out of village excursion. I kind of looked at him like he was crazy when he decided out of the blue during one of my grocery shopping D ranks that he would take me on one of his missions.

"Fushicho-chan, I'm sure you'd like to run a courier mission with me." Kakashi casually stated as I balanced two baskets in one arm while trying to open the client's door.

I got the door open and split my focus to having this conversation, "I don't think your level of missions would be safe for me, Kakashi-shishou." At this point in time, at ten years old, I was just graduating from the basics and I could almost walk on water. We had, for the first two years, focused on my stamina and chakra reserves. I hadn't actually learned anything useful.

"It would be a B rank at the most. I'm fully capable of watching you and completing a B rank." Kakashi gave me an eye crinkle as I handed the groceries to our common client and she thanked me as I took my leg and blocked her fat cat from trying to make a run for it. She thanked me again and Kakashi and I started towards the Hokage tower.

"Think about it Fushicho-chan, you've never been outside the village before." Kakashi tried to persuade me, "Where's your sense of childish adventure?"

"With Ita." I retorted before I could stop myself, lamely adding as an afterthought and an attempt to fix the situation, "I don't have time to be a child."

Kakashi actually stopped at my answer and I turned to look at him. Kakashi concealed what he was thinking easily and asked, "Fushicho-chan. What _are_ your thoughts on Itachi?"

"He's my brother and he killed everyone. What else is there to be expected?" I answered promptly. Kakashi narrowed an eye at me. Over the two years my personality still unsettled Kakashi from time to time because of my sardonic attitude. I suppose I was pretty unsettling if you looked at me expecting a child.

"Shouldn't you have more of an opinion on this?"

"Why should I?" I countered, "It happened. Big deal. Time to move on and live."

Kakashi sighed under his breath but allowed the conversation to shift, "You're a hard headed brat. I was promised a little princess and this is what I got."

"I'm going to accept the mission. If you can blink off the massacre like that you can handle a small mission like the one I'll choose." Kakashi told me with actual authority in his voice for once. I rolled my eyes but nodded and gave an affirmative "Yes, Shishou."

Our mission began the following day where I would be excused from the academy for as long as necessary for the mission. Kakashi made sure I wore appropriate attire for the mission, so my usual dark clothes, and I had a brand new set of real shuriken and kunai. We left the village early in the morning with Onna seeing me off. She had actually packed a scroll for me which contained some explosive tags that I kept secret from Kakashi, two lunch bentos for me and Kakashi today, and extra rations.

Because I couldn't fly through the trees like Kakashi could we had to walk to our destination. Kakashi chose a route that wouldn't require camping for my first trip and while our destination was a border outpost Kakashi constantly assured me the worst we'd deal with would be bandits and he could easily take those out blindfolded. Kakashi was acting a bit sketchy but he wouldn't lead one of the remaining Uchihas into danger so I trusted him for the most part.

"We'll be staying in an inn in this upcoming town for tonight." Kakashi informed me when the sun was setting and my legs were screaming at me. I grunted in response and Kakashi didn't even respond to that. We reached the town soon enough and it truly was a town over a village. It was a bit large for a rural area but it had its own red-light district so... oh, you want to know how I know that?

"Shishou..." I drawled slowly as Kakashi came to stop in front of our "inn", "Isn't this a brothel?"

"Such adult language." Kakashi demurred instead of actually answering my question.

"Shishou should you really be bringing my young adorable self into such a place?" I asked as he approached the door. He looked over his shoulder at me and the shadows hid most of his expression, not that there was much of an expression anyway. Fucking mask.

Kakashi crinkled an eye at me, "If you know it's a brothel then I can't save your innocence further."

I gaped at him and he continued, "I know you know more than you should, Fushicho-chan. So just pretend we're not in a brothel."

"But why are we staying here?" I demanded.

"It's run by a Leaf contact so we can stay here safely. I would never take a Genin _team_ here but you're not a dumb little group of Genin, are you?" Kakashi simply turned and entered the brothel. I groaned but followed behind him and tried my best to stay in his shadow. That night spent in the brothel was incredibly awkward because those walls were not soundproof and while Kakashi gave me the bed he was in the chair and I made eye contact with him every single time there was a suspicious noise. We all know what those noises were and I'm sure Kakashi knew I knew. For such an aloof man, he picked up on what I was thinking way too quickly for my liking.

The next morning as we set off Kakashi chirped to me, "Wasn't that fun?"

"I slept for maybe an hour." I stated angrily.

"Well, a brothel isn't meant to be slept in." Kakashi said more so to himself. Then he blinked and looked down at me to see if I caught that little snippet.

I made a mind exploding gesture and snickered, "Good thing you aren't technically responsible for keeping my mind innocent."

"Why do I have a feeling I'm going to be in trouble for this?" Kakashi pondered to himself, gazing up at the cloudy sky.

I grinned, "Well, I'm sure the Hokage will love to hear about how you've corrupted me so young."

"You're a ninja. Suck it up." At this point we were already out of the village and heading towards the border.

I put a hand to my heart and gave him a wounded look but the look in my eyes absolutely gave me away, "Why, I'm an innocent young academy girl."

Kakashi snorted and from there we walked in silence. We reached the border outpost when the sun was just above the horizon two days later. We would be staying in the outpost for the night after delivering the message and then we would take the same route back. A border guard who looked quite familiar to me took one look at me and laughed at Kakashi when he handed over the mission scroll. We entered the outpost's barracks and I got a few odd looks from the Chunin staffing the outpost but Kakashi ignored them and we took a set of bunks for ourselves.

"We can get a little bit of training in while we're here." Kakashi decided, "How's your night vision?"

"It's nothing too spectacular." I replied. Kakashi crinkled his eye at me and I nearly glared at him because I knew he was about to tell me how wrong I was.

"For you perhaps, but your Dojutsu effects your eyes entirely even if your sharingan isn't activated. Look out this window and tell me what the furthest thing you can see is." Kakashi gestured to the window that looked out at the side of the border that wasn't ours. It wasn't a major country though, just the Land of Hot Water. So this was a pretty boring border considering the country was more for tourists and civilians than anything else.

I peered out the window and found I could see a building in the distance, "There's a building. It's made of bricks, kinda like this one."

"That building is an abandoned guard post from when Hot Water had a Hidden Village. It's supposed to be out of vision for the average eye." Kakashi said brightly, "Each side has its own ways of getting around the distance to spy of course."

"Alright, so I can see far and in the dark. So?"

Kakashi pat my head like I was a dog, "We're going to teach you how to find all the details in just a glance. To be a worthy opponent is to know your opponent. Anything from their appearance to their body posture can indicate something important that can give you an advantage over them. This could save your life in a battle that's evenly matched."

"And if they're more skilled than I am?" I questioned.

"To know your opponent is to predict their moves before they do. You'll hopefully live long enough for reinforcements in that case." Kakashi answered for once. He had one of the Chunin on break come over to assist in my training. Kakashi pointed to the bland Chunin who looked half asleep and like he wanted to be anywhere but with us at that moment.

"Can you tell me how he is feeling?" "What is he most likely to do next?" "Is he a threat?" Those were the gist of the questions Kakashi asked me about. We did this for every single Chunin staffed in the barracks... twice. We almost went a third time but dinner was prepared so instead we had rations. Over the bowl of broth and dried jerky rations Kakashi and I observed the camp. This was a small border post that was hidden among the larger ones so it was just a few watch towers connected to the wall that went until the next guard post. It didn't have a mess hall, just a small armory, a small room for the messenger hawks for emergencies and the barracks.

Nothing else exciting happened that night and in the morning Kakashi was more than ready for us to leave. We packed our things and Kakashi was briefly using the small outhouse washroom before we set off into the wilderness to head back to the brothel town. I was settled at the window I had looked out last night and I was practicing activating and deactivating my sharingan. I suppose that was what both condemned me and saved me.

I was able to catch the flash of a chakra system in the distance and I was able to throw myself to the floor while yelling as the window shattered and several kunai came into the barracks. I quickly dove out of the way of the window while the Chunin in the room with me acted immediately. One surged out the window while another grabbed me by my upper arm and hauled me outside the outpost to where Kakashi was waiting. The warning siren began to howl as I was pushed into Kakashi's care.

"Alright, best we leave, Fushicho-chan." Kakashi told me seriously as I felt my legs shuddering in actual fear. I had never faced battle before and I could feel the killing intent from the other side of the outpost surging at different intervals.

Not that I wanted to stay but, "Why?"

"It's probably just a few missing nin from Kumo trying to cross the border into safety. They won't be much more than Chunin-" Kakashi paused and held his tongue as there was suddenly palpable chakra in the air that nearly had me screaming. It felt like the chakra was living death, really. Sparking like a bad wire and electrifying anything close enough. For my hypersensitivity, it felt like even if I were a kilometer away this chakra would eat at my senses. That definitely wasn't the case as my range was nowhere near that far.

"On second thought... stay back and hide in the trees. Try your best to smother your chakra." Kakashi ordered. His voice was low and serious. I scurried off to the trees and when a second wave of that chakra hit it was far closer than I'd have liked it to be. I sunk behind the first tree I reached and looked over my shoulder to appraise the battle. Kakashi was facing off against two enemies, one shining brilliantly like they were a light bulb and the other setting off sparks here and there. It was the glowing one that was frying my senses.

Certainly Kumo ninja, but I was able to catch a line through their hitai-ate. Watching the battle wasn't as exciting as it should have been. The ninja were all most likely Jounin level and they moved faster than my brain could comprehend with the fizzling air. I nearly screamed when someone sunk next to me.

"Uchiha-hime," a Konoha Chunin said in a whisper, "Come with me. That fight will escalate quickly."

Shakily I stood and allowed the Chunin to lead me through the trees. As we walked through the trees, I could hear dark thoughts trying to enter my mind. Anxiety was eating away at me and one thought seductively cooed, "What if this man is an enemy?"

I nearly stopped at that but I had seen this Chunin in the barracks. When we were out of range of the air that was full of chakra, I was able to begin tasting the world again. My immediate response was to taste the chakra of the Chunin I was following. He tasted like... felt like...

Static.

My sharingan whirled to life in my eyes instinctively (At a later date I bragged to Kakashi about this because usually my sharingan likes to take its sweet-ass time.) and found myself staring at a chakra construct surrounding another _unfamiliar_ figure. As soon as my sharingan was in my eyes the missing nin knew his cover was blown and he tried to grab me. I was already holding a kunai and tried to stab the hand that reached for me. Obviously, this guy was far above an academy student's level. With my sharingan I could see his every move but with my body I couldn't move as fast as I needed to.

His hands wrapped around my throat and he very easily disarmed me and tossed my kunai to the side. His henge wavered and then melted away, leaving me staring at a tan (And really handsome) man with golden (Beautiful) eyes and white (Majestic) hair. He wasn't too old, probably not even as old as Kakashi. Of course, I shouldn't be thinking about how hot the guy who was strangling me was (Not that I'm _not_ going to praise this fine specimen of a man).

"Listen here, hime." he murmured in a way that one would try and soothe a child throwing a temper tantrum, "A cute little Uchiha like you will fetch a hefty price. It was a good thing we saw you, hm? Those pretty eyes."

He removed one hand from my neck but his other easily lifted me up and slammed me into a tree and held me there. I tried to jab forward with my fingers into his throat for a stun shot so I could do something about his choke but a grown man against a nine almost ten year old girl was a very unfair fight. My arms could maybe reach halfway through his bicep and that was being generous. He pulled out a kunai and pressed the cool metal to my temple.

"Those pretty eyes are dangerous... and valuable." he smiled, "You wouldn't mind if I took them?"

Immediately, my body tensed. I heard my heart beat clearly. Once. Twice.

Then, Fushicho screaming at me as if I was back in my mind standing in front of her, "DO SOMETHING!"

And suddenly I remembered our conversation about how I could become something strong. I tried to collapse his elbow with a hit but again, little girl against grown man means grown man wins by default.

My head was feeling a bit light at this point and he was starting to slide the kunai towards my right eye. I didn't feel like looking like a Kakashi mini me in the future so I panicked. And what did I do? Nothing short of a fucking miracle.

My chakra probably flared up like an actual flare because the man's pretty gold eyes widened and I did something I had been avoiding since I was younger. My hands gripped his arm and I gripped at the source of chakra I told myself I should never grasp at. There was a simple flash of heat and then the mans arm began to smoke and he tossed me violently to the side. I cracked into a tree back first and was nearly knocked out right then and there. I hit the ground after hitting the tree and I saw black spots rising in my vision. But the man didn't come after me because suddenly his arm was on fire. He was trying desperately to put it out but the fire only started to spread to his clothes. He ripped his shirt off (Mm, that was a fine sight) when it started to catch fire and he managed to put his arm out. Sure I hadn't killed him but he was extremely damaged with his arm resembling a piece of charcoal. It smelled a bit like burnt meat in the air actually, so that was pleasant.

"You little bitch!" the enemy snarled, "I'll kill you!"

And I thought I was going to die right then and there. But there was a flash of green and silver and suddenly the enemy was on his back with a kunai embedded into his chest. Kakashi landed beside me in a crouch and went to grab me-

"Identify yourself!" I ordered, backing up from Kakashi. Kakashi gave a relieved sigh but said, "Hatake Kakashi, Konohagakure Jounin."

I tasted his chakra and accepted the answer, after all Kakashi tasted as he usually did. He was basically a big dog, I could taste the smell of dog as odd as that sounds.

I allowed myself to fall into Kakashi's side as he checked me over like a worried mother. He touched my throat and his eye narrowed, "This is going to bruise badly."

"Well, I'm alive." I replied, falling into silence after Kakashi prodded at my neck. It didn't hurt to talk so Kakashi wasn't too concerned. However there was a sudden burst of chakra from beside us and we both jumped and found that my attacker was gone with only a pool of blood suggesting he had ever been there.

"Well, shit." I stated and Kakashi didn't comment on my language. He gathered my small form into his arms and Kakashi set off towards Konoha.

Now, you may be saying, good job! You saved yourself! Not really, I just succeeded in making an enemy that day. An enemy that the bingo book has named as Kumo's Golden God, no clan name but first name Raito. Remember him, because that godly looking man is gonna show up again. Believe me, that'll be fun (Absolutely not (Well, eye candy wise it'll be fun)).

But waiting back in Konoha for me was a nice hospital trip, a highly concerned brother, and a nasty surprise.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I remembered that I had basically the entire chapter typed up and was like "Hey, I should finish this" and boom. Here it is.**

 **Fun Fact- I am the biggest hypochondriac you will ever meet. Ever. _Ever._**

 **Thank you to the following for reviewing:**

 **RadioPoisoning**  
 **Thomas Drovin**  
 **lizy2000**


	9. Older

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 10_

 _Older_

* * *

Returning to Konoha included Kakashi reaching the gates in about a day of nonstop running. We had only taken two breaks, once when I had to pee and once when he took a drink and a chakra pill. There was no immediate emergency, so I wasn't sure why he was running so hard. After all when the fight had been seven hours behind us I was able to relax. Nothing would be coming to get me in Konoha, that would be suicide for any missing nin and or bounty hunter.

When we reached the gate Kakashi showed our IDs to the guards without letting me down. It wasn't until I was settled in a general examination room in the hospital that he finally relaxed, allowing his shoulders to fall from their rigid position and leaning against the white wall. The door opened after a few moments and the doctor that had been with the Hokage after my surgery two years ago entered. He still felt like that gross old world medicine and I got a good look at him now.

His hair was a deep burgundy red and was shaved on the sides with the rest of his hair falling forwards across his face. Other than his odd haircut he was entirely average looking with peachy skin and violet eyes. A small overly sharpened pencil was dangling from the corner of his mouth like someone would hold a cigarette between their lips.

He spoke around the pencil perfectly, "Uchiha Fushicho, here for a neck injury?"

"She was choked." Kakashi supplied hardly helpfully. The doctor, with a spring in his step, pulled my collar down and observed my neck. I had forgone my bandages halfway through the mission, if you were wondering where they were. With a hum he gently pinched the front of my throat and I sharply inhaled. With a nod the medic took his pencil from his mouth and jotted down something on his notes. His hand glowed with green chakra and I braced myself for the pain.

But the pain never came.

The green chakra entered my system and I could absolutely feel it, but unlike the usual burn it was more of an aggressive caress to my throat. I gagged a couple times, which had Kakashi eye the medic oddly, but other than that the feeling was entirely harmless. When his chakra receded the medic held out a hand to me while sticking the pencil back in his mouth, "Ah, I should have introduced myself before letting my chakra wander all over you. The name's Uzumaki Kinoe."

I choked on air.

Um, excuse me? Did you just say... Uzumaki?

Kinoe wasn't perturbed by my dying at his name, he looked over his shoulder at Kakashi and demurred, "She'll live by the way. Bruise will be gone in a few days and if it hurts to eat anything, just have soup until the bruising goes away. Also, since she's finally in after ignoring her checkups for the last two years I have to ask you to leave. Unless of course you're a parental figure or guardian, Hatake-san."

"I'm her shishou, that makes me legally her guardian until she is Chunin." Kakashi retorted as if his honor had been challenged. Something sparkled in Kinoe's eyes.

"Ah, of course, Hatake-san." Kinoe looked down at me and stuck his clipboard under one arm to clap his hands together, "Welp, strip down to your underwear Fushicho-chan, I need to make sure you're growing correctly."

And there was a sudden burst of smoke and Kinoe full out laughed as sitting where Kakashi had once been was a potted plant that I suspect had been outside the examination room. Kinoe finished laughing after a full minute and then he closed the blinds before slamming his open hand on the floor. Ink spread out from his palm across the floor and up the walls before reaching itself again on the ceiling. It flashed for a moment before disappearing entirely.

"So, what was your old name?" Kinoe asked casually, "Before I was Uzumaki Kushina's younger brother, my name was Matt."

I stared at him. My heart had, at some point, felt like it dropped from my chest to my feet.

Kinoe nodded sympathetically, "Ah, I forgot that you probably haven't met any others."

"Other... reborns?" I asked tentatively.

Kinoe brightened visibly, "Ah, so you do get it. I was afraid a cat got your tongue."

Kinoe set his pencil and clipboard down on the counter and pulled himself up next to me. The paper crackled as he adjusted himself and he looked down at me with a smile that was nearly blinding.

"Those of us that are connected are calling ourselves Samsaras, just in case someone can overhear us." Kinoe started to shake one leg, "It's funny actually, what's going on."

Now, you may have noticed I'm being extremely quiet regarding my emotions and feelings during this conversation. To be honest, as soon as Kinoe had told me his name my emotions kind of dropped into my stomach alongside my heart. There was a lingering feeling of immense shock, but slowly cracking through that was relief.

"You know, you're the youngest Samsara I've met. And by far you're in an important position." Kinoe told me, "The rest of the Samsaras are all adults. Hyuuga Himawari and myself so far are the closest to canon members though. Actually, Himawari-chan is a canon cast member."

His smile finally broke and his eyes saddened, "Well, _was_."

"Was?" I asked.

"Hyuuga Himawari was Hinata's mother."

I blinked, "Wait, as in, the canon mother?"

Kinoe shrugged while his eyes hardened again, "It seems like it. She looked like an older Hinata and she married Hiashi and had Hinata and Hanabi before... before she passed."

"Why were we all put here?" I questioned suddenly. Kinoe flinched before sighing. He shrugged at me again.

"To be honest, no one knows. Himawari was canon, and I was probably supposed to have died with the rest of the Uzumakis. But I knew the clans fate and came with Kushina-nee. You however, are an aberrant." Kinoe frowned, "You're the first divergence from canon that we've come across. To be honest, you're terrifying to us."

"It is pretty scary," I admitted, "I'm put in a pretty shitty spot."

"Yeah, but enough about this. We have all the time in the world to talk about that stuff. What I want to know is who were you before all this? What do you miss the most? I gotta tell you, I really miss my motorcycle. Oh, and video games. Man I miss them." Kinoe changed the topic loudly and I could suddenly see the Uzumaki in him. He was bright and cheerful and now I knew why his haircut was so odd. He probably had it done the same way he had it before he was reborn.

"My name was Veronica-" The name rolled off my tongue oddly, I nearly choked on it. How could I have choked on my own name though? Had it really been that long since I had spoken English?

"Veronica." Kinoe repeated with far more grace than I had, "A nice name. Regal, almost. Perfect for the Uchiha-hime."

I ignored him and his jab at my status, "I suppose I really miss being lazy."

"Ah, laziness. Something we'll never get back." Kinoe mused. And it was true. Ninja couldn't afford to be lazy unless they were a Nara. Ninja had to keep in shape and they were constantly doing something. I myself would never grow back to the weight I had been unless I grew to be extremely tall to make up for my lost fat.

Kinoe and I spoke for a few more minutes until he wrote down his address and gave it to me. I was going to give him mine but he laughed it off, saying I obviously lived in the Uchiha district and if he really needed to know the exact house he could always use his doctor privileges to get the address. He did give me an examination but it was simply him looking me over quickly with chakra. As I was about to leave, he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Ah, before you go, I just wanted to let you know you aren't the only one who has a birthmark from their death." Kinoe told me, "Maybe I'll let you see mine one day."

"Unfair." I complained, "You've seen mine."

"But while a scar tells many stories, a scar doesn't tell them fully. One day we'll exchange the stories of our deaths, how about that?" Kinoe pat my head and ruffled my hair before exiting the room. As he did the seals he had set out suddenly fizzled out without a single trace of them ever being there. I left the hospital quickly and returned home with my thoughts rushing a mile a minute. Most of them were nonsense and when I got home it was still before the academy would let out. So I let myself into Sasuke and I's empty house and settled down on my futon. I put my hands to my head and laughed.

"How funny." I said to myself.

And echoing inside my head was the ominous cackle of Fushicho.

.

The front door opened around the time Sasuke should have been getting home. I was in the kitchen making my specialty when Sasuke entered the kitchen, following the glorious smell of not pickled daikon radish, but sauteed. See, I could make easy shit. Sauteing vegetables and pickling vegetables that could (or could not, in some cases) be pickled. I could also make some old shit from my past life if I could find the ingredients, or something that I figured could substitute. Of course, my substitutes almost never worked but hey, I tried.

Sasuke dropped his books when I returned and a horrified look crossed his face, "You're back? Are those... sauteed daikon radishes?"

"You could maybe not sound like I'm trying to poison you, Sasu." I replied easily. Sasuke picked up his books and moved them to the table, slowly making his way over to where I was. My Sasuke was pretty different from canon Sasuke, you should know now. He was still pretty emo, believing that we were entitled and that we deserved some good luck to balance our bad luck. But he wasn't obsessed with murdering Itachi. Sure, he absolutely wanted revenge but he had a thought process behind his revenge. He knew something wasn't right because a single teenager couldn't destroy a small army of ninja. My Sasuke was smart.

He was really, really smart, actually.

I bet it's those glasses.

Sasuke was top of his class in both physical aspects and the mental aspects, rivaling the bookworm Sakura who had taken to her book ninja ways already. Sasuke and Naruto's friendship flourished while I was off doing menial things (Like shitty training that wasn't going anywhere) and they weren't just friends. They were rivals and they bounced off each other. Naruto was an endless ball of energy and in my old life would have been diagnosed with ADHD. He had issues remembering things, most specifically dates and numbers. If he wanted to remember something, like say, a Jutsu, then by god he was going to have that memorized. He was also really smart, but not in the same way as Sasuke. Naruto simply wasn't a book learner. He could get the hand signs down before Sasuke could every time even if Sasuke studiously studied whatever they were working on.

Naruto was a hands on learner and Sasuke was a watch and learn kind of kid. While they learned differently they flourished together.

"Well, welcome home." Sasuke awkwardly muttered while pushing at his glasses, "What happened on your mission?"

"Nothing too exciting." I shrugged.

Sasuke eyed me critically, "So says the bruise on your neck."

I shrugged again, "Bruises could mean a lot of things."

"Specifically a hand shaped bruise could mean something."

I turned around and tossed a raw radish at him. Sasuke caught it and looked less than impressed. He complained, "Why would that stupid shishou of yours take you out of the village and let you come back looking like that?"

"I'm fine Sasu. I'm alive, aren't I?"

Sasuke grouched, "Those bruises suggest you could not have been."

I waved him off and there was a pause in conversation as I poured oil into the pan where I was cooking. It sizzled loudly and Sasuke watched over my shoulder as I cooked. When I was nearly finished I had Sasuke set the table for the two of us and as we were sitting down to eat there was a knock on the door. Sasuke had set out a third set of utensils so I assumed he had invited a friend over.

"The idiot is here to eat with us." Sasuke called as he answered the front door. There was a loud cry of "You bastard!" in response to Sasuke calling his guest an idiot. He returned with the sunny Naruto. I had known it was him immediately because I could feel Kurama's chakra from a good distance and only Naruto could have the feel of sunshine so strong in his energetic chakra.

Naruto knelt on one of the cushions and helped himself to food after greeting me cheerfully. After we all had began eating hr asked through a mouthful of food, "Sasuke said you were out on a mission, that's so cool!"

I shrugged in response. Sasuke elbowed Naruto when he went to further question me and Naruto started to inhale his food at an impressive speed. I ate slowly and found myself eyeing Naruto curiously. If Kinoe was Naruto's uncle, then why was Naruto the same as canon Naruto? Wouldn't Kinoe be his guardian?

Filing this question away, I asked the two boys how the academy was while I was gone and Naruto began on a tangent about how stupid the new math curriculum was and he didn't understand it. Sasuke explained it was trajectory and calculating distance for that and that, in my mind, equated to us starting trig. I was the best in class in math by far, even outdoing Sakura. Sakura, who was still friends with Ino at this point, was extremely against me. She hated that I could outdo her in math. For our class currently the three top kunoichi were myself, Sakura and Hinata.

A bit surprising but it made sense. Hinata was a Hyuuga and she could flawlessly pull off the three academy jutsu. She could decimate any of us in a spar if she was allowed to use Hyuuga techniques but in a regular spar she was far too timid and was easily overpowered. She was smart and kept up with her studies but was nowhere near Sakura in any subjects. I myself was a bit behind on history which put Sakura above me.

All in all, the academy was going well enough. I really was using it as practice for jutsu and to learn science and history. Of course, I was also socializing slightly.

Kyuketsu was a good companion to have, and the day after my mission the quiet boy remarked at lunch, "You have a bruise on your throat."

"I got choked on my mission." I replied, chewing on my bento that consisted of last night's leftovers.

Kyuketsu hummed in response, "As expected of the Uchiha- _hime_."

I glowered at him and he amended, "For your first out of village mission you survived at least, hime."

How mocking of him. But that was how Kyuketsu was, he was a surly little asshole with a sharp tongue. While he was quiet and didn't rise to many confrontations he certainly could rile me up. For a kid he was intelligent so I put up with the attitude he had.

Why, I think he was even worse than I was.

.

Something to live by is if something can go wrong, it will absolutely go wrong. What law was that? Murphy's law? It's been far too long since I've needed to recall something like that. Now, as I mention things going wrong, it has everything to do with what I had planned for myself. It seems while I didn't want to be the avenging powerhouse Uchiha, everyone else was trying to set me up to be just that. How, you ask?

"You'll be graduating with this years class." Kakashi told me cheerfully as he watched me attempt to hang upside down from the closest tree.

I nearly lost my control and inhaled deeply while there was a crunch as suddenly the bark beneath my feet was loosened by my chakra. I shifted away from the broken piece and looked at Kakashi with a less than impressed expression, "What."

Kakashi nodded and his tone became much more serious, "You're about even with this year's rookie of the year in regards to your total statistical numbers. While you are not nearly a prodigy after working with you for this long you have progressed to meet Genin standards."

"Wait back up-I'm even with Hyuuga Neji in stats?"

Kakashi blinked at me but got over whatever had made him pause and cheerfully handed me a sheet of paper he produced from his Icha Icha book. Apparently he had been using it as a bookmark. I unfolded the paper and scanned it quickly, then actually realized what it was and went back to read it.

"What the shit, my intelligence is a 5?"

My intelligence was my highest score. The scores were all out of five and regarding the rest of my skills I had a 1 in Ninjutsu, 2 in Taijutsu, a 1 in Genjutsu, a 1.5 in strength, a 2.5 in speed, a 2 in stamina, and a 4 in hand seals. My total was nineteen, which was actually pretty good for a fresh academy graduate. More so, I had an obscene amount of D ranks already considering I had been doing them for almost two years. Considering I usually did at least one a day, sometimes two or three if it was a beyond easy day, I had managed to rack up a whopping 752 D ranks.

I looked at Kakashi and he chuckled, "You're mature beyond your years, don't think it went unnoticed."

I frowned, "It was the brothel."

"Actually no."

"Liar."

"The brothel just helped prove it. I do want to know how you know what a brothel is." Kakashi gave a pleasant eye crinkle to show he was smiling at me.

My frown melted into a scowl and I thought fast. Kakashi could see through lies like he was looking through a window at them so I implied, "I've been able to henge semi-decently for awhile. You don't wanna know where I can get in with that."

Kakashi watched me for a moment before accepting the answer. I questioned, "Do you know what my team will be yet?"

"You still need to pass the graduation test."

If I could scowl any deeper I would, I resorted to giving Kakashi a very unimpressed look, "Well if I fail you'd have to have been literally the worst shishou in history."

Kakashi conceded, "Alright, then the rest of the year has to pass their tests."

I settled into silent brooding and Kakashi attempted to motivate me, "Well, at least you'll be able to move onto more advanced subjects now. Perhaps Genjutsu? Ninjutsu?"

"I don't see why you haven't already taught me that. I mean, with my sharingan I'm supposedly born a Genjutsu master. Maybe I'll even steal the name of copycat from you." I told Kakashi. Kakashi snorted and I scowled at him.

"Your face will get stuck like that, Fushicho-chan."

"Whatever, shishou."

And it was about that time when suddenly my thoughts wandered and I found my feet no longer attached to the tree. I fell a good few feet and landed in an awkward roll before slamming onto my back and subsequently smashing my poor ass right onto the hard ground. I yelped and rubbed at my sore ass while Kakashi watched with something akin to amusement in his sole dark eye.

"Son of a-" I cut myself off.

Kakashi sighed, "Where do you get that mouth of yours?"

* * *

 **AN**

 **Fun Fact \- Fushicho is meant to be a shitty little brat. That's her current personality, whiny and lazy. **

**Childhood is boring and repetitive.**

 **Anyway, to compare her to her classmates she's low Genin level. She's about Sasuke from the bridge builder mission, however she is already able to water walk and tree walk. Currently she has above average chakra reserves but she still doesn't have the reserves that Sasuke would have at that time. Currently, she is training to build her reserves. Her point total of 19 is a few less than Chunin exam Neji. Now, regarding her D ranks. That is a high number because she is getting a mission every day. I looked up other characters data book info for their missions and I call bullshit on how little missions there are. So, I'm assuming the data book only covers missions we've witnessed or heard about.**

 **I've also named Hinata's mother after what she names her daughter. I'm thinking that perhaps Hinata named her daughter after her deceased mother.**

 **Thank you so much to the following for reviewing:**

 **Blackbird0  
Thomas Drovin  
SupremeGeneralJoker  
** **cheshiregiggles  
** **lizy2000  
** **RadioPoisoning  
** **chloemika  
** **Belladonna Dixon**


	10. Kakashi's First Interlude

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 10_

 _Kakashi's First Interlude_

* * *

Kakashi honestly wasn't a fan of the Uchiha twins in the slightest. Upon first watching the female twin, a snarly girl by the name of Fushicho, he wanted nothing to do with them. All the Uchihas had egos and this little brat was nothing different. When he watched her goad that Hyuuga boy the day he officially became her shishou (The first time anyway), he had hoped that it was just from the shock of the massacre. Soon though it became very apparent the girl was a horrible person.

He watched her interact with her peers many more times in hopes that she was just a grumpy person in the morning or when she was working. But no, she insulted many of the other children and had no interest in interacting with them. There were only two children she actually talked to, a boy with unsightly bright pink hair and a misfit adopted Aburame. Neither were in her class.

Kakashi really didn't want to deal with Fushicho. He really, really didn't. But he knew that he had no choice in the matter because of the presence of one old war hawk that pulled strings in the dark. Kakashi supposed he was the best mentor for the last Uchihas due to being the only one left who had some kind of idea on how a sharingan works (His wasn't a natural sharingan but of course no one would listen to that). He would have eventually been forced with one of them, but this little girl was probably the worse of the two. Chakra just didn't come naturally to her, while he could never get her in any kind of Genjutsu her Ninjutsu was atrocious, and she was entirely average with her physical qualities.

Kakashi was pretty sure something was wrong with Fushicho. Oh he knew about her hypersensitivity and there was no doubt about the fact that she was hypersensitive. It was difficult to catch her off guard even as a Jounin suppressing his chakra. Normally chakra control came to people like that fabulously. Fushicho's control should be something beyond Genin. Yet she was a bit below Genin in regards to her chakra.

Not to mention the aura Fushicho gave off. The kids her age weren't aware of it yet but Kakashi knew eventually they would catch on. Fushicho gave off an eerie feeling of death. Civilians wouldn't completely pick up on the sense but they would certainly feel uncomfortable looking Fushicho in the eye. For a seasoned Jounin however Kakashi could feel the sense of death coming off her. It was baffling.

Sensing death was similar to sensing killing intent. It filled the air and could make your muscles tense and your mind go blank. It was something people got over after their first kill but whatever that aura was that Fushicho gave off unsettled even him.

In general, Fushicho was actually unsettling.

She didn't act her age and she never did, as Kakashi could recall. Ever since meeting her she had sarcastic quips and references that someone her age shouldn't know about yet. You got used to her sardonic personality after awhile and Kakashi wasn't unsettled by Fushicho quite as much anymore but the feeling was still there. There was something so horribly off about her that Kakashi really just wanted to label her as another Uchiha Itachi and set her in Torture and Investigation and maybe have them evaluate her.

Speaking of Uchiha Itachi, that was another thing about her that was completely wrong. Itachi's betrayal and the murder of her entire clan didn't seem to bother Fushicho in the slightest. Sure her personality was already a bit cold and aloof but even she should have some kind of feeling about it. Yet anytime it was brought up and Kakashi looked into her eyes all he could see was a calculating gleam and not a single hint of actual emotion.

Fushicho's eyes were another topic Kakashi would be able to rant about. First of all, he had some good fun teasing her when she had been unable to turn off her sharingan. Honestly that was one of the few bonding moments they actually had. Sure they bickered together but Fushicho never seemed to do anything with actual effort behind it. She half-assed every social situation. But more on his evaluation on her social skills later. Fushicho's eyes were odd. She and her brother were almost a matching pair now, but her eyes were far more off than Sasuke's. The pupils were light and the iris seemed to darken and lighten depending on her mood and more often than not there was a flash of blue in her eyes. Her sharingan was just as bad, light grey tomoe that flashed blue sometimes.

Not to mention the blue eyes that for some reason couldn't leave her henges. No matter who she tried to transform into Fushicho could never change the eyes from those pale blue eyes. The color was a bit of a grayish blue and wasn't too unsightly and they were certainly different from her eyes so he was allowing it for now. But why? Why were her eyes such a problem?

Honestly, Kakashi didn't remember signing up for such a big assignment.

The only times Kakashi didn't almost hate Fushicho was when he witnessed her with the pink haired boy and her other little friend. When she was with them her smiles were sometimes real and her eyes not so calculating and cold. They were obviously her closest friends but something else bothered Kakashi. Sure Fushicho certainly had a different look when she looked at her brother. Her eyes were warmer and her smiles nearly real. But again, something seemed to hold her back and keep that unsettling gleam that just screamed trouble.

Kakashi didn't hate Fushicho, but he was starting to truly hate being stuck with her as his student.

In fact, he hadn't realized he didn't hate her until his heart had nearly stopped when he realized she was in danger. He had saved her and brought her back to Konoha quickly because not only was she the last female Uchiha but he suddenly had the realization she was his student. He actually liked messing with her, bringing her mentally older self to a brothel and maintaining awkward eye contact with her all night as he realized she knew exactly what those moans and screams were.

But again, he was unsettled. She had reacted well after almost being killed, demanding he identify himself to her and being on guard. But the way she immediately relaxed when he was there and how the fact she almost died seemed to drift out of her mind was not right. She should have been crying and screaming like a normal ten year old. He had hardly showed her anything yet, biding his time for her to get shipped off to some unlucky sod that would have her on his Genin team. Sure he taught her chakra control as best as he could, refined her jutsu and even tried to ease her fear of jutsu (That fire thing that she had going on was actually the weirdest thing he had ever seen. Another odd thing that Fushicho did that just couldn't be explained.). But no matter what he did he just couldn't explain Fushicho's personality.

The day of her Genin exam, Kakashi was settled in the Hokage's office. Hiruzen Sarutobi was smoking his pipe while the two waited for Uchiha Fushicho's turn. So far she had aced the written test and was able to complete the required physical tests with minimal effort. Now they just had to worry about her henge and clones. Kakashi knew she could complete them well enough for the Genin exam with the exception of her eyes.

Finally, Fushicho was called in.

"Who's her sensei going to be?" Kakashi asked as Fushicho, with a fake look of effort, completed a replacement followed by creating three clones and then henging herself into Iruka. Iruka's blue eyes bore into the real Iruka's dark ones and Fushicho received more points off for the eyes. Despite those points Iruka murmured words of congratulations and passed a hitai-ate over to her. Fushicho exited and Hiruzen smiled.

He hummed, "Curious for your student?"

"Maa, perhaps."

The Hokage exhaled some smoke and both men watched as it drifted up to the ceiling and slowly dispersed into the air. Hiruzen spoke with a gleam of humor in his eyes, "Uzumaki Kinoe."

"Uzumaki Kinoe?" Kakashi repeated slowly as if he didn't believe it. The Hokage nodded in confirmation and Kakashi felt like he had to sit down for a minute. He remained standing and murmured, "The Uzumaki Kinoe who hasn't completed a single mission out of the village?"

"Believe it or not, Kinoe-kun is more than prepared for this team." the Hokage replied, "He was ANBU Dog after all."

"That man, an ANBU?"

Hiruzen nodded and removed his pipe from between his lips. He placed it on its tray and wearily looked up at the ceiling where, behind a sealed Genjutsu that only a trained Sharingan could see through, an ANBU member sat with deep red hair and an odd canine mask. Kakashi, from his days in ANBU, knew exactly what was hidden there and could make a good assumption as to who was on guard today.

The Hokage drummed his fingers on the desk and with aged eyes stated, "Kinoe-kun is most peculiar. Typically, only Uzumaki women could call upon chakra chains. Kinoe-kun is the first man to be able to use them and he is nearly as proficient as Kushina-chan once was. He is well on his way to possibly surpassing her and with his chakra capacity and vitality he could almost rival Kushina-chan and her Jinchuuriki abilities."

"That's impossible." Kakashi demurred.

The Hokage shook his head, "You may have noticed if you looked at Fushicho-chan with your sharingan that she has an imbalance in her chakra. Kinoe-kun and she are very similar with the exception that Kinoe's chakra evened out after the fall of Whirlpool. The medics believe the trauma of losing the village caused the imbalance to be fixed but Fushicho, despite the trauma she faced, still have much more spiritual chakra than physical."

Kakashi looked as if he were about to ask something or perhaps try and argue so Hiruzen cut him off, "Before the massacre, Uchiha Itachi questioned me on what could cause it. He noticed his younger sister's chakra and saw her issues with it. Unfortunately it's rare and most of those who have had the same condition eventually had it fade. For Fushicho, this hasn't been the case yet."

The Hatake brooded for a moment, or at least that's what Hiruzen would label Kakashi as doing. Really he was thinking hard on what he'd seen from Fushicho as he had noticed she had odd chakra but he hadn't noticed the chakra was caused by more spiritual chakra than physical chakra.

Finally, the weary silver haired man questioned, "And her teammates?"

"Aburame Kyuketsu and Bakuhatsu Obu."

Kakashi was oddly pleased that she would have her only friends as teammates.

The following day when teams were assigned, Kakashi settled himself outside the window to watch. Fushicho, if she was paying attention, probably knew he was somewhere in the vicinity. If she really tried, she would know exactly where he was. But she seemed far more busy with the exuberant pink haired boy talking to him while wildly waving his arms. Beside them was Kyuketsu, looking very bored while he used his hitai-ate to reflect light into Bu's eyes and cause the pink haired boy to frantically move every few moments. Bu looked like he wasn't aware of who was doing it and Fushicho eyed Kyuketsu with an amused smirk while nodding her head to whatever Bu was saying.

When the door opened it was no surprise Uzumaki Kinoe was the first sensei to arrive. After many years of being a forced loner, Kinoe was no doubt beyond excited to have a Genin team. Kakashi had heard stories about the Uzumaki and his odd habits and sayings hat caused people to generally find him too much of a "rebellious bad boy" (Kinoe's words that Kakashi once recalled him saying to Kushina) to be around. He recalled seeing the man a few times when he had been invited to his own sensei's girlfriend's home for dinner. But as his heart lurched and fell at the memories Kakashi pushed them away and focused on the present.

The deep blue-violet eyes that Kinoe contained, the same eyes that a certain woman had shared with her brother (Kakashi swallowed down a noise), were shining with excitement. As soon as his eyes landed on his team his body language suddenly seemed to ooze happiness and he nearly bounced over to the fresh Genin. Fushicho, as soon as her eyes landed on their new sensei, suddenly expressed something Kakashi had never seen from her before.

There was an odd glint in her eyes. She seemed oddly relieved and joyful at seeing her sensei and Kakashi wondered why. What was so special about Kinoe that Fushicho suddenly looked much more like a normal girl over the brooding monster she usually was? Once again pushing away feelings that tried to bite at him Kakashi continued to observe. Kinoe ruffled Fushicho's already untamed mane of hair and gave the same treatment to Bu before Kyuketsu gave him the stink eye when his curly dark locks were caught by Kinoe's deft hands.

"Alright!" Kakashi could hear Kinoe from where he was, "Ready to move out, Team Four?"

Oh good, Kakashi thought, an unlucky number.

But the number suited his dark little princess quite well he supposed.

With a puff of smoke Kakashi was gone from where he was sitting. And Fushicho's all knowing eyes flickered to where her shishou had been sitting and a small, hardly noticeable smile briefly crossed her lips before it was gone and settled into her usual scowl.

* * *

 **AN**

 **Fun Fact \- Four is an unlucky number in Japanese because it can be said as "Yon" or "Shi" and "Shi" also means death. **

**So this kind of explains Kakashi's motives. Of course, Fushicho is an unreliable narrator because it is from her perspective so this interlude is just to kind of show she isn't all knowing and amazing. And a** **pparently Yamato used the name Kinoe, so oops? Oh well, it'll probably never come up in this story and if it does, I have come up with something to cover it.**

 **Anyway, to address some stuff. There's been small hints as to why Kinoe isn't involved with Naruto but it'll be outright said soon. And someone asked why Kakashi is training Fushicho over Naruto. As Fushicho had no choice in the training, neither did Kakashi. Danzo pushed for it and it made complete sense that the only man in the village with a sharingan mentor one or both of the Uchihas, especially if one already has their sharingan.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **CrystallineX  
hachinonana  
Thomas Drovin  
Radio Poisoning  
timijaf  
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lizy2000**


	11. Ugh, I Have a Team

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 11_

 _Ugh, I Have a Team_

* * *

I got lucky. I'll tell you that much. My Genin team consisted of myself, Bu and Kyuketsu. Of course Bu and Kyuketsu would have to learn to get along (Bu had nearly shrieked when Kyuketsu came to sit beside us) but that would hopefully come with time. I myself enjoyed Kyuketsu's company and Bu would have to suck it up.

Then our sensei. It was Uzumaki Kinoe, otherwise known as the Samsara Matt. Kinoe wasn't who I expected for a sensei, I had honestly assumed Kakashi would be our sensei and I would have fucked over the time line. But no, I managed to luck out. Of course the timeline is already twisted around like a bendy straw but I had hope that we would still get to the same end, just like said bendy straw. I know, clearly I'm the best at analogies.

"Hi kids!" chirped Kinoe as we settled down at Ichiraku's. Bu's eyes were shining in admiration at the sight of our new sensei and Kyuketsu looked like he was half dead and not with us mentally.

I nodded to him and Kinoe reached forward and pinched my cheek before stretching it upwards and nearly making me stand up, "Aw, wittle Fushicho is so qwuiet."

I attempted to clock him in the side of the head with a left hook but his arms were too long for my preteen sized limbs. I settled for trying to scowl at him. His "baby talk" at me was probably there to purposely rile me up and many people knew that making fun of my lisp was the best way to get me angry. Well, it was actually easy to get me angry but enough about that.

"Careful, she bites." Kyuketsu quipped as he pointed out his order to Teuchi and Bu snickered, muttering that he wasn't exactly wrong. Then, when he realized he was sitting between Kyuketsu and I, suddenly paled. For some reason Bu's fear of Kyuketsu hadn't gone away despite the fact he was a perfectly normal young boy.

"Alright kiddies, we're gonna introduce ourselves now. I'll start. My name is Uzumaki Kinoe and I like ramen, engineering and fighting. I dislike some people, and I work in the hospital as a medic. I specialize in Fuinjutsu and Uzumaki stuff." Kinoe clapped his hands together and pointed out his order before pointing to me.

I sighed and murmured, "Uchiha Fushicho. I dislike cooking, people in general, and a lot of things really. I like, uh, my brother I guess. I have my sharingan."

Kinoe tsked at me.

I glared and he added, "She talks with a lisp and her intelligence was rated as a 5 on her data card. That's typically where geniuses, Naras and veterans lie in regards to intelligence."

I scowled at him and Bu, after ordering, gaped at me. Kinoe produced four familiar cards from his vest pocket and held them up with the backs facing us. The cards weren't too important. They only gave numbers. Our actual files were much more detailed and contained a lot about us including detailed analysis of our abilities and mental health.

"So after we eat I've got a test for you guys. If you guys pass I'll keep you as my team. If you fail you have two options. Genin Corps or back to the academy." Kinoe very cheerfully informed us, elaborating when he saw Bu's confused expression, "Very few Genin teams actually get Jounin senseis. Most are failed and are sent to the Genin Corps or back to the academy. The difference between having a sensei and the corps is that those with senseis have a higher survival rate, as well as they typically reach Chunin and Jounin years before the corps. Not to mention all those famous names you hear definitely didn't come from the corps. Having a sensei is your first step to specializing, growing and networking."

Kyuketsu spoke up when Kinoe stopped to inhale his ramen, "It does make sense. The Sannin trained under Hokage-sama, Hokage-sama under Nidaime-sama, Yondaime-sama under Jiraiya-sama, The Copy Ninja under Yondaime-sama."

Kinoe clapped for him and Kyuketsu ignored him to turn to his own ramen. I slowly ate my own over the top flavored ramen (I quietly told Teuchi to double the flavor) and nearly sighed when the taste of burnt noodles and vegetables peaked through the flavorful taste that I was glad to finally try. Ichiraku ramen was like a symbol for Naruto. Being able to try the ramen that Naruto loved was something so surreal... it hit me hard and reminded me exactly where I had been reborn again.

My sudden quietness caught Kinoe's attention and he elbowed me with a knowing look. I rolled my eyes at him and slurped down my ramen.

"So, Pinky, introduce yourself." Kinoe ordered through a mouthful of ramen.

Bu looked up at the nickname "Pinky" and looked between me and Kyuketsu as if he wouldn't be the only one that would be called Pinky. Then, upon realizing he in fact was called "Pinky" he bristled at Kinoe, "Excuse me!?"

"You heard me, Pinky." Kinoe droned while reading over me to poke Bu between the eyes with his chopsticks, "Introduce yourself, Pinky."

Bu's tan face heated up a bit, whether in embarrassment or anger I couldn't tell, and he muttered crossly, "My name is Bakuhatsu Obu. I like spicy food and stuff. I don't like dogs that much and I work primarily with fire Ninjutsu and family jutsu. Not Kekkei-Genkai, just closely guarded secrets."

"Hm, interesting. And you?" This was directed to Kyuketsu.

Kyuketsu looked up and his goggles flashed in the light, "Aburame Kyuketsu. I like insects. I dislike people. I fight long distance."

Kinoe clapped for Kyuketsu, "Short and sweet, very nice very nice." Excuse me? Mine was short and sweet too!

"I actually hate you." I sighed and Kinoe grinned quite pleasantly and ruffled my hair. He grabbed half of it and shook it while half dragging me off my seat.

"Such thick hair, Fushicho-chan. You should cut half of it off and give me some for some extensions." Kinoe told me and while Bu looked horribly confused Kyuketsu looked like he was pretending Kinoe didn't exist. That sounded like a pretty good plan actually and after wrestling my hair back from Kinoe I went back to my ramen. I ignored Kinoe for the rest of my ramen and even after I finished.

Some time later Kinoe lead us to our new team training grounds. They were pretty generic and located pretty far out considering the fact we were only genin. Usually the further and larger training grounds were reserved for higher ranks considering they could pull off much more impressive stuff.

Kinoe clapped his hands for our attention and bounced on his heels when we gave it to him, "Alright kiddies, this is Training Ground Thirty-Seven. The higher the number the larger it is and once you hit the thirties they start to become specialized grounds."

"These are typically reserved for chunin and jounin." Kyuketsu pointed out blandly.

Kinoe tried to ruffle Kyuketsu's curls and the brunette dodged and perched behind me. I glared at him and he didn't grace me with a response. Kinoe pouted but replied to Kyuketsu's comment, "Very true, Kyu-Kyu," I felt sadistic pleasure in witnessing Kyuketsu flinch at the name and his eyes flash beneath his goggles, "You see I reserved these grounds because you three are going to be powerhouses. Our team is put together to be the powerhouse squad of the year."

"So you're confident we'll pass your test." I surmised.

Kinoe grinned, "Well, to be honest, I don't even have a test ready for you guys."

I nearly fell over and Bu had been playing with the thin braid that trailed down from his temple in front of his ear. His side burn was part of the braid so it was stuck pretty stiffly to his face and yanking harshly on it was how I tortured him when he didn't pay attention. Bu, probably forgetting he had a habit of playing with his hair, pulled on his braid as he went to throw his arms down in frustration at Kinoe's personality. Bu had to hold back tears and I nearly laughed. Even Kyuketsu broke a smile at Bu's suffering.

Both Kyuketsu and Bu had their respective genin clothing already. Kyuketsu had some barely seen ensemble (Except for a brown and red high collared shirt that nearly reached his jaw) hidden underneath a tan cloak that was clasped just at the base of his neck and fell to his knees. It had a hood but he kept it off and he wore his hitai-ate as intended-around his forehead. Similarly, Bu wore his hitai-ate around his forehead and so as to not be different I did the same thing. Bu had his hair in its usually bushy ponytail while my hair hadn't changed from my childhood. Bu was pretty simple with his attire, a brown jacket over a green camo print high collared shirt. He had a thick strap that looked like it belonged to a sword but his back was bare so whatever he typically would wear there wasn't currently present.

Then, I saw what Kyuketsu had on his back.

"I'm sorry," I snickered, "Is that a bow? Can you even use it?" As in a bow for arrows, not a hair bow. Bows weren't a common weapon for ninjas, you'd typically see mikos and other religious figures wield a bow but that was about it.

Kyuketsu had the range of emotions to look vaguely offended by my tone. Bu joined me in my snickering when suddenly, something wrapped around all of us. Faster than any of us could have reacted we were being hung upside down and my hair was dragging along the dirt. From Kinoe's back eight chakra chains had sprouted and there were two wrapped around each of us. The last pair of chains waved ominously around Kinoe and he smiled.

The chakra chains _burned_. It felt like I was being held by burning hot iron, but I just grit my teeth and endured. Chakra was both my enemy and my friend in this world, so I had to just suck it up.

"Since I don't have a test, how about I hold you guys like this until the blood rushes to your heads and you pass out? First one to pass out loses." Kinoe was very obviously joking but Bu struggled against his restraints and growled some very unkind things that portrayed his thoughts on Kinoe's testing method.

"I'm not creative enough to test you on something ambiguous like the rest of the jounin do, so what I'm going to do is test out your potential as powerhouses. You three are going to be the team that clears out battlefields. I was already given a preview of your abilities and you will have a short, medium and long range fighter." Kinoe tilted his head, "But why don't you three figure it out? I'm going to give you some time to figure out a strategy and then I'm going to come after you. You have to stay away from me while tossing out all your fancy jutsu. 'Kay?"

He dropped us on the floor and while Kyuketsu and I rolled, Bu landed square on his head. Swearing, Bu fell onto his side and grabbed at his wound while Kinoe disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"He's most likely listening in." Kyuketsu was the first to speak.

I agreed, "Alright, so who fights at what distance?"

"I can really be any of them." Bu said, "My explosives are dangerous but my mom made me work them into short range combat as well as long and medium range."

Kyuketsu nodded to what Bu said and then spoke up for himself, "Long or medium range. Contrary to what you seemed to believe, Hime, I can use the bow."

Bu burst out into laughter as soon as Kyuketsu's name for myself left his lips. It took a few seconds before my anger boiled over and I brought a fist down right on the bump that was starting to grow out of Bu's head from where he landed. Yelping, Bu's laughter cut off after I retracted my arm. He whined something about why I hit him and not Kyuketsu, who called me the dreaded nickname, but I ignored him to focus on our task.

"Well then," I cleared my throat, "I'm probably close range. My fire ninjutsu is pretty rudimentary and only works as intended on occasion. Can we all tree and or water walk?"

The answer to that was yes. Off to a good start then.

Rather than bore you with our entire five minute talk on our abilities, I'll summarize what I learned. First of all, we decided I was close, Bu was medium and Kyuketsu was long, in regards to our range. Of course Bu and Kyuketsu could switch if they needed to. I on the other hand couldn't be long range at all but I could try and cover with shuriken and kunai if I needed to from medium.

Bu could do a lot with his chakra capacity. He wasn't too devastating yet because his chakra pool was still so small compared to a Chunin or Jounin, or even an older Genin. But if he packed as much as he could into a single explosion then he could probably destroy the training grounds. Kyuketsu, on the other hand, was probably the most skilled on our team. He, very blandly might I add, explained that while he did have a bug colony inside him like the rest of the Aburame, his was too dangerous to use in a spar as his control wasn't the best. He didn't want to accidentally kill Kinoe, or even me or Bu, so he was going to mainly cover us with his bow.

Then there was me. Really, I was going to try and light Kinoe on fire. That could go one of three ways, either it worked, nothing happened, or I light myself on fire. Well, so far I've only lit clothes on fire. Not very fun because my body unconsciously freezes up on me if I can actually feel fire licking at my body but if I can use my Natural Fire Jutsu (I named it myself and I think it fits perfectly) then I'll be pretty unstoppable (For genin anyway). I was kind of planning on Kinoe adjusting his strengths to match us but with his personality he was going to probably just screw us over for the fun of it. And I certainly wasn't letting that happen!

"We got this!" announced Bu, raising a fist and looking at me expectantly. I shared a look with Kyuketsu and the Aburame sighed before he also lifted a fist. We brought our fists into a three-way fist bump and Bu exploded his while Kyuketsu left his fist hanging there and I retracted mine like they had cooties.

That's about when chakra chains exploded out of the floor.

Bu yelped but I have no idea what he did as moments after Kyuketsu and I got out of the way there was a sudden explosion and dust was suddenly everywhere. I turned on my sharingan to try and see through it and that's how I found Kinoe charging me like a chakra demon. I met him head on and jumped up. Kinoe punched me in the stomach and I wrapped my arms and legs around his arm, confusing the shit out of him. I reached at the chakra I could find and attempted to spark it. Kinoe, questioning what the fuck I was trying to do out loud, shook his arm in attempts to get me off.

"Fushicho get off, you're fat!" whined Kinoe.

That actually hit a nerve. In my past life I was not a small girl. The reason I died actually was because I wasn't small enough to fit out a window. Now that I was a skinny and in shape young girl, calling me fat was an insult to people who were actually built larger.

"Sensei, you asshole!" I huffed, and smoke billowed out of my nostrils (As it normally did when I was mad) and nearly choked me as my anger gripped at the nearby air. Kinoe realized something was happening and two chakra chains wrapped around me, one at my head and the other my feet. The chains pried me off as the air started to spark and when I was a few feet away suddenly, Kinoe's sleeve was on fire.

He yelped and smothered it with a chakra chain, "So mean!"

That's when my teammates finally decided to be helpful. An arrow pierced the slowly disappearing smokescreen and Kinoe moved to the side gracefully and let it pass him. When he heard the sizzle of the paper bomb attached to it, he used chakra chains to give his jump an extra booth. The tag ended up being a fizzling dud, but Bu throwing little black spheres that resembled cartoon bombs (Like something you'd see in Legend of Zelda) was certainly not a dud. They exploded with a powerful stench and both myself and Kinoe were almost knocked over by the immense smell that came from the bombs.

"BU!" I screeched while my voice became incredibly nasally in my attempts to not breathe in the smelly spray that was in the air, "What the fuck are those!?"

"Stink bombs!" he cried back gleefully, tossing another one towards Kinoe.

Kinoe, with another chakra chain, hit it like a baseball and it returned to Bu. Bu yelped and we could hear him get the wind knocked out of him as it nailed him right in the stomach. Then it went off and Kinoe, out loud, wondered if he should make sure Bu didn't kill himself with the stench. Bu twitched so we assumed he was fine and the fight continued. Bu was out of it for a few seconds which was a long time in a fight.

I tried to distance myself from Kinoe but he seemed to want to attempt hand to hand combat. We all know who would win that and I dashed into the trees to try and keep Kinoe from getting too close. I sprinted and wove through the trees while hoping that I would lose Kinoe due to his larger size. While he kept up perfectly fine he wasn't using his chakra chains and I assumed it would take too much chakra or was too much effort to break through the trees. It was only a fight against hardly trained children, after all.

I heard Kinoe stop abruptly and I used this as my chance to sprint up a tree and crouch in the bushes to watch. An impressive amount of arrows were flying through the air and not even skimming trees while almost hitting their target. None actually hit Kinoe due to his actual incredible speed but they kept his attention long enough for Bu to come back to the world of the living and start tossing actual explosives. They weren't anything too impressive as anything bigger than your average singular explosive tag would tax him pretty badly.

Then, Kinoe tripped up.

I later decided this was probably on purpose and Kyuketsu had agreed with me when we analyzed it. But Kinoe allowed a hit to his legs from one of Bu's little explosives and that cost him his mobility. Immediately, I chose to dive on him while he was distracted by his injury and Kyuketsu moved in closer. Bu hid in the trees while I descended down upon the Uzumaki.

It was a mistake on my part, as you probably were guessing. I was rash in leaving my spot of safety because as it turns out, Kinoe didn't need legs. Rather all he needed were four chakra chains to hoist himself up and suddenly, it was like I was staring at Doctor Octopus from Spiderman 2. A fifth chakra chain sprouted from his back and wrapped around my upper body before I could try and change trajectory.

"Fuck." I spat as I kicked my legs towards the chains. Kinoe tsked at me and two more chakra chains exploded out of his back and, with more ease than I expected, he collected my teammates. Bu reacted much like an angry cat would, spitting and hissing, while Kyuketsu looked very displeased with a touch of his usual aloofness.

Kyuketsu also wrinkled his nose as we was brought into the stink zone. Bu's stink bombs were absolutely putrid and shocking at first but the smell actually stayed around for awhile and stuck to your clothes. The cloud of rotten air also spread out into the general area and no doubt if someone with a good nose came here within the next day or two then they'd know something went on. I'd say you eventually get used to Bu's stink bombs but honestly, you don't.

"I win!" Kinoe told us cheerfully while Bu brooded like the sore loser he was, "But you guys did better than I expected."

We were dropped again and Kinoe healed his legs while lightly setting himself on his feet, "My chakra chains are my most versatile weapon. As you can see they're thick and strong and can reach medium ranged opponents. Your faults were that Fushicho rushed in and Kyuketsu dropped towards mid range. You should have remembered that I'm a medic with a lot of chakra and really, really good chakra control."

Kinoe pat both Kyuketsu and I's heads, "But don't give me those faces, you cute little preteens. I'll pass you anyway. I did have to use a decent bit of chakra, and while it was nothing compared to what I'd do in a fight against another jounin it was pretty good for little noobs like yourselves."

Bu opened his mouth and began to question what a noob was, but Kyuketsu clearly recognized our new sensei was a bit off his rocker and trampled over Bu's attempts to speak.

"Why?" Kyuketsu asked simply. And it was a good question. I of course had a single thought on the matter. He passed us because of me.

"Why not?" was Kinoe's response. Kyuketsu sighed and accepted Kinoe's answer. Meanwhile, I eyed Kinoe suspiciously. When Kinoe caught my gaze his grin widened.

Kinoe grabbed Bu into a headlock and started to give him a noogie. Kyuketsu and I both attempted to step behind the other and nearly collided. We took several steps away while Bu cried for us to get him out of Kinoe's torture. Rather than risking it, Kyuketsu and I watched as Bu screamed about what Kinoe was doing to his hair.

This was my life now, I reminded myself as Fushicho's dark whispers tried to take my mind. My adrenaline was starting to settle and once I was calm her presence would leave. But until then her voice stayed in my mind as I watched Kinoe laugh and go after Kyuketsu next.

Yes, I almost nodded to myself, this was my life now.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I was googling in attempts to find Doctor Octopus for like half an hour. I remembered seeing a great cosplay for him at Comic Con two years ago and I was ready to use the Incredibles ball monster thing until I finally found him. The name Doctor Octopus makes me angry though.**

 **Sorry this took so long! I really prefer third person writing but this is a story that would sound better from first person. Fushicho is also a lot meaner than I usually write and definitely more selfish. But eh, its her personality.**

 **Fun Fact \- My view on the Uzumaki clan is that only women can use chakra chains while men just have larger chakra pools. Both men and women can have the vitality and healing factor. Of course Kinoe, as a Samsara, is an exception to that. **

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:  
**

 **grifman275  
lizy2000  
ZGK1007  
CrystallineX  
Thomas Drovin  
RadioPoisoning  
FleurSuoh  
Guest  
Sazaleli**


	12. Morning of a New Day

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 12_

 _Morning of a New Day_

* * *

I hate a lot of things, but something I really hate is morning people. Kinoe was not a morning person as he set our new training schedule to always be in the afternoon. So while he was really weird and definitely seen as eccentric by literally everyone, I could tolerate his schedule. Bu was also not a morning person as he was just as tired but definitely not as cranky or temperamental in the morning as myself.

Then, we have Kyuketsu.

This goddamn morning person woke me up at 6am nearly every day. Sasuke and I had a couple of fights during my early genin days because he was jealous I graduated early. Regardless of if we were fighting that day or not, Sasuke wanted to throw Kyuketsu out of the compound but instead we bickered the first morning until Sasuke kicked me out, half dressed to see what he wanted. The little shit even locked the door behind me so that I couldn't come back in without resolving the issue. Kyuketsu believed that training early in the morning was good for you and as young Genin, we needed some good training.

The first morning this happened; I stood in front of Kyuketsu with my hair a few inches shorter than usual due to how tangled and messy it was. My shirt was one of the ones Itachi left behind and it was pretty big on me and hid the fact I wasn't wearing pants. Sue me, Fire Country gets way too fucking humid and hot even at night during its hot seasons. Kyuketsu was decidedly unimpressed by how I looked upon greeting him.

"How ugly, Hime. I thought princesses were supposed to always look good."

Me and Sasuke were the only ones in the district, obviously, so it allowed us to be as loud as we wanted, "Fuck you, Kyu-Kyu."

That first morning ended up with Sasuke kicking us out of the district because while no one else lived there but us, Sasuke wasn't going to have me waking him up an hour and a half early. It was easy to get me loud because Kyuketsu knew exactly which buttons to push to get me to start yelling. Not that it was hard to spark my temper in general, but still, Kyuketsu was well attuned to my character. We almost got into a brawl before Sasuke started tossing my cookbooks at us from a window and yelled at us to leave.

"Give me pants then!" I snapped at Sasuke when he ran out of cookbooks to throw at us.

Kyuketsu gave me a questioning look while Sasuke facepalmed. He disappeared into the house.

"Why aren't you wearing proper clothing?" Kyuketsu inquired politely.

I scowled at him, "Why are you waking me up when the sun isn't even up yet!" It actually was up, barely. The sun was hardly peeking over the houses in the district and I usually didn't wake up until it cleared the roofs.

"Training in the morning is good for discipline and conditioning." Kyuketsu replied with an automated tone that told me he was reciting that from somewhere.

Sasuke returned to the window and threw a pair of shorts at me, some bandages and my holsters. We ended up walking to Bu's house after I pulled my shorts on. While I had said pants Sasuke was right in getting me shorts. The day would get incredibly hot because of how stupidly humid Konoha was. When we arrived at Bu's Onna wasn't home and knocking on the door didn't get us anywhere. So we did the ninja thing and walked up their small house to the second floor and opened Bu's window. Kyuketsu went in first and stifled a snicker. I followed and nearly fell into the room when my eyes landed on Bu.

They had a traditional home and slept on futons but Bu did have his own room that was cluttered with things and weapons. He had some pictures and posters on his walls and his closet was half open with clothes spilling out. Bu himself was sleeping on his futon with his arms and legs spread wide and only a thin tank top and boxers with little fiery hearts on them.

I had to sit down.

Kyuketsu left the room quietly to get some water while I tried to come to terms with Bu's stupid boxers. From the piles of clothes that also helped decorate his room I found that his mom definitely did his shopping because the rest of his underwear had ridiculous pictures on them. He had traditional heart ones, some smiley face ones, kunai and shuriken ones, dog ones. The list goes on and I really, really needed to breathe instead of smother my laughter so I closed my eyes,

When Kyuketsu returned he had a tall glass of water that he promptly dumped on Bu's head. Bu jumped up shrieking and, granted he did react by getting into a fighting stance and swinging at Kyuketsu with the kunai he evidently had under his pillow, he promptly slipped on the blanket that he had discarded during the night. He crashed to the floor and both Kyuketsu and I were clearly not impressed. Good thing he wasn't a real badass ninja yet because he'd be dead if Kyuketsu had wanted to kill him. Really he should train himself to sleep lighter to catch people sneaking into his room. It wasn't like Kyuketsu and I were trying to be super sneaky, I had to smother my laughter and Kyuketsu snickered until he left the room.

"What the hell!" Bu shrieked, his face paling when he saw Kyuketsu.

I stood up from where I was leaning beneath his window and Bu's face turned red when he saw me. For someone as tan as Bu was Bu's blushes showed like no ones business. He looked down at himself and then stared at me, his face steadily getting darker until I thought he was going to pass out or die.

"Get dressed." Kyuketsu ordered him, kicking him lightly in the head, "We're going to train."

He gave Bu a similar talk to what he gave me, preaching that we really needed to train to get strong and that training early in the morning was good for you. Bu looked just as impressed as Sasuke and I had been but since we were already in his house he couldn't really do much about us.

Bu tried to shoo us out of his room and I told him that even if I didn't have his permission I was going into his bathroom and using his hairbrush since I was forced out of my home this morning. Bu did in fact give me his permission so I did my bandages and started to brush my hair. Bu joined me in the bathroom while I was brushing my hair.

Have I given a bathroom rant yet? Well, you're going to get one. Houses here had amazing bathrooms. They had separate bathroom compartments with a room for the toilet, a room for the bath, and a room for the sink. The sink had a spray wand which was great for washing your face and waking you up in the morning while bathing was something you got used to. It was a family thing where generally Sasuke and I could share a bath without it being awkward although I usually tried to wash myself off and use the bath before Sasuke got home or got up. I still had that American view on privacy and what not and once Momma died and stopped enforcing our bathing rituals I was doing my own thing. Also, the washer was in the bathroom because you cleaned yourself off before getting in the bath since the bath was more for relaxing than cleaning and you could reuse that water for clothes. Neat, huh?

While I hadn't been to Naruto's apartment the bathroom there wasn't as large. There was less room for all of this stuff and he actually didn't have a bath tub but he did have the separate room for the toilet. Both Naruto's apartment bathroom and our home bathrooms were made so that the entire room could get wet which was really convenient.

Bathroom rant done.

"No wonder your hair is always so knotted and awful," Bu complained when he saw me brushing my hair, "I didn't think a girl could brush her hair wrong!"

I glared at him, "Excuse me?"

Bu rolled his eyes and grabbed his brush from my hands. It had been filled with pink hair from both he and his mother but now some dark hair was tangled around the pegs from me. Bu turned me around so I was facing the mirror and came up behind me.

"You don't brush your hair from your roots like that when your hair is long, idiot." Bu told me as he grabbed a handful of my hair. He started to brush it from the end and slowly made his way up before starting on the next handful.

In my previous life my hair had been thin and I never really let it grow past my shoulders because of how bad I looked with long hair. My hair had always been greasy and thin and awful. In this life my hair was very, very thick and if I left my hair short I looked too much like Sasuke. Not to mention I wanted to be beautiful this time around. So my hair was currently at about my waist if it was brushed nicely.

Bu turned me around and brushed my bangs to the side, staring into my eyes. He stepped back after a moment and appraised me, "Huh, you actually look human now."

He regarded his brush and made a noise, then he looked at the floor and made another noise, "But damn do you shed."

I smacked his shoulder, "What are you, a girl?"

Bu rolled his eyes at my common way of insulting him and he started to brush his own hair the way he showed me. He braided his usual braid from the top of his head and kept it tight to his scalp before he brushed the rest of his hair. The other bang had volume and he brushed it to the side before he finished by pulling the rest of his hair, that was about past his shoulders, into a ponytail in the middle of the back of his head.

"You really are a girl." I laughed and I left the bathroom before Bu could swing at me like he was usually tempted to do.

Kyuketsu was leaning against the wall outside and chewing on an apple he clearly stole from Bu's kitchen. He tossed another pilfered apple to me and I bit into it with no remorse. Kyuketsu had a third apple that I was sure was for Bu, and he apparently had used his goggles to carry the apples because they were in his hand. I had actually never seen him without them and they normally hid his eyes from view with their odd tint.

"Is Pinky your best friend?" Kyuketsu suddenly asked me.

I paused and stared at him. Kyuketsu had taken a liking to Kinoe's nickname for Bu apparently. I wasn't sure what brought up Kyuketsu's comment and he looked away stiffly, gesturing to my hair. It was honestly brushed nicer than it had been since Momma had been alive.

I shrugged and took another bite of my apple, "I don't really have many friends in general. I have you and Bu. That's it."

"You count me as your friend?"

I looked up and met Kyuketsu's eyes. They were a dark burgundy color, appearing as a dark almost black brown but flashing red when he looked up and his eyes caught the light. Then he looked away again and held his apple and Bu's apple in one arm while he put his goggles back on. For the first time in awhile, Kyuketsu had actually appeared as a sincere twelve year old. Had he been jealous? I couldn't actually tell, but whatever it was, I felt something warm in my heart and I smiled. When Bu stumbled out of the bathroom and nearly stubbed his toe, I forced my smile away for my usual half neutral half frown.

Kyuketsu tossed the third apple at Bu as I predicted and we left for our training grounds soon after.

The grounds were empty when we arrived and we started off with stretching. I was the second most flexible person on the team with Bu having the elasticity of a dancer. He went into a full split which prompted both Kyuketsu and I to stare at him.

"Um..." I tried to find something to say that could convey what I was thinking but I honestly couldn't.

Bu blinked when he realized Kyuketsu and I were staring, "What?"

"You're in a split." I said, "Like, a fucking full on split."

"Such language." Kyuketsu sighed while Bu blushed, defending himself with, "Hey, my mom says being flexible could save my life as a shinobi!"

"Guys aren't supposed to be that flexible." I demurred and Bu rubbed his head and folded his legs back. He fell backwards into a broken sword stretch. That was a stretch I could do and I fell back into my own.

"One would think he is a girl." Kyuketsu added as he joined us in our stretch.

Bu waved his arms in the air, "Seriously guys, being flexible is a big deal!"

It was funny he preached that because while I could reach my toes in this life I couldn't fold myself like Bu apparently could. With several more stretches Bu was able to push himself to what could only be his body's maximum. No doubt Onna had drilled her son mercilessly to get him to be able to stretch further than most of the girls in the academy.

When the sun was high in the sky our sensei appeared. We had done some light training all day with Kyuketsu and I working off each other while Bu did chakra exercises. He wanted to have large reserves and his mother gave him a training regime to do just that. He was meditating when Kinoe arrived in a poof of smoke. Kyuketsu and I stopped trying to screw each other up with our various long range weapons (We started off with normal target practice which then evolved into hitting a moving target: the other's projectile) and we turned to face Kinoe.

Kinoe was still wearing his doctor's coat and he had several pens stuffed into his breast pocket while what looked like lollipops were spilling out of his lower pockets. Behind each ear was a pencil and a third pencil hung from his lips exactly like how it had been when I met him in the hospital. Kinoe tossed a lollipop at each of us while exclaiming, "Such good kids! Training before sensei even gets here!"

I unwrapped my lollipop and chomped right through the treat while Kyuketsu ignored his and Bu actually stuck the lollipop in his mouth like it was intended. Kinoe and Bu stared as I crunched through the hard candy but Kinoe cleared his throat after a moment and clapped his hands together. He bounced on his heels in excitement.

"I'm excited to start with you three! In celebration I brought this!" Kinoe opened his labcoat to reveal it had pockets on the inside. From one pocket he produced four pieces of paper and he waggled them at us. Taking one in his left hand I felt him channel chakra into it. The paper dampened before splitting in half.

"You're testing us for our chakra affinity already?" Kyuketsu questioned, surprised.

Kinoe nodded, "To celebrate!"

He passed one out to each of us and explained that we had to channel chakra into it. Bu and I already knew our natures as we were both clearly fire. But we used the papers anyway and as expected our papers ignited and then turned to ashes that floated away in the wind. Kyuketsu's paper crumpled into earthy dust that fell to the floor.

"We have a pretty balanced team then! I was born with a water affinity and trained myself in wind, while Kyu-Kyu is earth and Pinky and Hime are fire. We just need lightning!" Kinoe sat down in the dirt and the three of us followed him closely. He put both his hands on his knees and he seemed to bounce in place despite sitting with his legs crossed.

Kinoe smiled a large, happy smile, "Before we start training I just want to say how glad I am that you guys are my team. I haven't had a genin team before so we're going to be learning together. Best of luck to us!"

"Are you going to teach us any jutsu?" I inquired with Bu nodding vigorously beside me.

Kinoe shrugged, "I don't have any of your natures but I can ask around. In fact, Hime, isn't your shishou Hatake Kakashi?"

Oh yeah. I nearly forgot about him. Whoops.

I scowled and Kinoe suggested, "Go to him and ask for him to do training with you guys. He won't be able to say no to his cute little princess!"

* * *

"No."

I glowered at Kakashi and he returned the look with a narrowed eye.

"You graduated from me. Goodbye." Kakashi waved his hand at me for good measure and made a shooing motion. We were in the middle of the civilian market where I had tracked him down. Can't say it was fun trying to taste every signature in my range trying to find the man.

Kinoe, who had come with me as moral support, peered around the corner he was hiding behind with a coy look, "But, Kakashi-san, didn't you say as her shishou you're her guardian until she's a chunin?"

Kakashi managed to convey a very displeased look towards Kinoe. Kinoe pouted at him and Bu and Kyuketsu stuck their heads around the corner. Bu gave his best impression of puppy eyes while Kyuketsu just stared at Kakashi as if his eyes would hypnotize him.

"Or you weren't lying to me because you were worried when she was in the hospital, were you?" Kinoe gasped, "Or, could it be...? Are you secretly..."

Kinoe came out from around the corner and stood behind me, putting both hands on my shoulders. Kinoe pinched my cheeks and tried to mold my face into a pout.

Kinoe, in a scandalized whisper, said, "A lolicon?"

Bu made his own scandalized gasp while Kyuketsu disappeared around the corner and an audible slap was heard. I bet he facepalmed. I'll bet one of my eyes on that one.

"Not only are you a pervert who reads porn in public but you-"

And Kinoe got nailed in the face by said porn. Kakashi retrieved his book from Kinoe's face and he tugged me away from Kinoe.

"The only lolicon here would be you, Kinoe."

Kinoe wailed, "First name basis already? I'm scared! The scary pervert is gonna get me!" A few civilians stopped to stare at some point. Honestly I couldn't blame them. We were currently acting like we just broke out of the psych ward.

"Will you stop the dramatics if I agree?" Kakashi asked, his voice sounding like he was dead inside already.

Kinoe smiled brightly, "Possibly probably!"

"He won't." came the muffled voice of Kyuketsu, also sounding dead inside.

"It's a chance you'll have to take." I chirped to Kakashi, nodding my head sagely. Kakashi uttered a few choice words under his breath (Excuse me, I do NOT sound creepy when I try and sound happy! Stupid bitch.) and agreed.

Kinoe pumped a fist in the air and I was reminded of how weird my sensei actually was. But I suppose despite how high maintenance the man was Kinoe was one of a kind and our team was pretty odd anyway.

"Ne, Hime, speaking of your romance life, got a boyfriend? I want to scare off the boys who come after my cute little genin!"

Bu laughed as I took a swing at Kinoe, proclaiming that I was going to punch him in the face. Kakashi leaned against the wall and closed his eye and put a hand to his head while Kyuketsu tried to slink away without being noticed. All in all, my first day as a genin was pretty eventful. Not so bad if I do say so myself.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Fun Fact \- It's annoying writing Fushicho because I have to find words to alternate with glower, scowl and glare. **

**I am actually really upset, this chapter was done up to the Kakashi scene a few days after I last posted but I lost the chapter because my mouse reset the page before I saved. Needless to say, I've been saving like crazy as I write now. ;-; Losing that much really caused me to slump in my writing speed.**

 **Also the review thing is functioning really weird and saying chapter ten was reviewed several times by several multiple times by multiple people. If I missed you then please let me know so I can fix my list! Thank you! ^u^**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **FleurSuoh  
Thomas Drovin  
lizyeh 2000**


	13. How Fragile A Person Can Be

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 13_

 _How Fragile a Person Can Be_

* * *

D Ranks piled up on us after our first few training sessions. We usually got a couple done a day and clearly if the ninja business didn't work out for us then we could be fantastic carpenters, babysitters, painters and cat wranglers. Hell, maybe I'll become a professional dog walker. Can you tell I was bitter about the amount of D Ranks we were being subjected to?

"I hate kids!" Bu cried after our third baby sitting job that week. We were relaxing on a bench outside the Hokage's office while Kinoe went inside to get us another tedious D Rank. I'd say he was doing it on purpose but he was also tired of the missions since he supervised us.

Kyuketsu and I made noises of agreement. It had been a pretty nice day that would have been perfect for training but instead we spent the day chasing down these twins who were in their terrible twos.

"Fushicho! Hey!"

I didn't look up and instead I tasted the chakras around me to find who called out to me. It was a new exercise Kinoe was making me do. He explained that almost every samsara was chakra sensitive and could do something similar to what I did. After awhile you lost your extreme hypersensitivity, he said, but you would always be a decent sensor. Kinoe himself didn't taste chakra like I did, rather he saw colorful auras. His range was shorter than mine by a lot but that's because he didn't train his and he had been in the Naruto world for thirty or so years.

The chakra was sunny and bright with a lingering taste of ramen and an overpowering feel of death. So it was definitely Naruto. I looked up and waved lightly to him and he approached us. Bu scowled at Naruto and I whacked him in the head before Naruto could see his look.

"What are you doing here?" I asked casually.

Naruto grinned, "I'm gonna make Jii-san get me ramen!"

"Oh? You're not mooching off Sasu today?" I responded and Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"The bastard wouldn't buy me some today. He said all the salt in ramen is going to kill me." Naruto thumped his chest, "But no way is something like that gonna kill me, dattebayo!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine." I agreed neutrally.

Kyuketsu suddenly looked up, "Eat healthier."

Naruto blanched, "What?"

"Eat vegetables and red meat. To become a strong shinobi one must have a healthy balanced diet and eat plenty to build up strong bodies and energy." Kyuketsu was about to begin a rant, and Bu looked pained at the idea. Kyuketsu had a verbal trigger and that was anything to do with ones body and training.

I covered Kyuketsu's mouth with my hand and I gave Naruto a fake smile that had him step back a few steps, "Don't worry about Kyuketsu here, he's a bit odd."

Before Kyuketsu could bite me or Naruto could respond, the door to the tower opened and Kinoe bounced out. He held a scroll in one hand and he had a lollipop in the other that he was licking like a child. He froze as soon as he saw Naruto and his face swapped between various faces of 'Oh shit' before he managed to clear his throat awkwardly and address my team.

"We've got a uh, mission."

With a malicious smile no doubt plastered across my lips I didn't move, "What is it?"

Bu and Kyuketsu picked up on Kinoe's discomfort and joined me in my torture. Bu added, "It better not be more babysitting!"

Kyuketsu made a noise of agreement.

"It's uh, a C Rank?" Kinoe blubbered, "We should go and pack for it now! We're leaving soon!"

"We don't know how to pack correctly, sensei." Kyuketsu pointed out innocently. That definitely gave away what we were doing.

"Woah, you're leaving the village Fushicho?" Naruto gasped.

I shrugged, "I've done it before. It's nothing new."

"I can't wait until I get my first mission, dattebayo!"

I decided not to burst his bubble and let him know he'd have D ranks coming out his ears once he started as a genin. Kinoe was giving me an urgent look but I ignored it and slowly stood up. I stretched my body thoroughly and cracked my joints starting from my shoulders and working my way down. Kinoe had enough when I bent over to reach for my toes.

"Time to go learn to pack, kiddos!" Kinoe announced, grabbing me by the back of my shirt and tossing me over his shoulder before he did the same to Bu with his other arm. Kyuketsu resigned himself to his fate and came along willingly, unlike the more stubborn members of his team.

Kinoe showed us how to pack as punishment and he made it as boring as possible. It was like watching paint dry as he explained why we needed each item in great detail. You need scrolls to hold items such as: food, bedrolls, possibly tents if you have a client who won't sleep outdoors, extra weapons, weapon maintenance tools, clothes, water skins, and other items that wouldn't be required for genin who weren't even leaving the country.

"We have a simple mission. There's a civilian serial killer in a farming village that we're going to apprehend." Kinoe explained quite cheerfully.

I gave him a skeptical look, "This is a C Rank?"

"Yep!" Kinoe smiled brightly.

Kyuketsu spoke up, "Perhaps because we are the frontal assault team of this year?"

"Yep!" Kinoe repeated, just as pleasantly as before.

We had to inform our families we were leaving so Bu went to go tell Onna who would probably send him with a metric fuckton of bentos and Kyuketsu to inform the Aburame. I on the other hand didn't have anyone to really speak with. Sasuke was in the academy so I left a note on the front door so that he'd see it.

 _Sasu,_

 _I'm leaving the village on a mission with my team. It's not going to be long so if we take longer than a week I'm probably dead. It's an easy mission though so we'll be fine. Regardless, I'm sure you'll manage with food better than when I'm actually home. If you need money I refilled the jar on top of the fridge. Stop taking the jar money when you go get food with Naruto. It's for emergencies you dork. Naruto and ramen is not an emergency. Use your own goddamn money._

 _-Fushicho_

Short and sweet was perfect for Sasuke. Satisfied my brother wouldn't freak out when I got home I left with my black backpack. We all met at the gate and signed out before we were off into the world. As we left I had an inkling I forgot to tell someone I was leaving but I pushed it into the back of my mind because Kinoe decided we were going to learn how to chakra run since we could all do the basic chakra control exercises.

That's the story of how I got a black eye and set my shoe on fire. But the only amusing part about that is the fact my shoe catching on fire made me fall face first into Bu's shoulder. That's how the black eye happened. He has a bony ass shoulder and I don't approve. Anyway, we all managed to get to the town with some kind of chakra run or dash. I say dash because Bu kind of explodes in one direction and then stops before rushing forward again. He broke a tree branch from it and fell and I laughed at him. Kyuketsu was the only one who could really jump from tree to tree so we just ran on the ground with enhanced speed. Kinoe said we'd learn how to take the trees soon and then maybe he'd let us on the rooftops back home. Civilians get pretty mad if you break their roof shingles after all.

Shenanigans aside we made it to the farming village with little issue and minor injury. The village was... quaint. It consisted of mostly shacks with the exception of what seemed to be the village leader's house and a rundown building that was both an inn and a tavern. We arrived about dinnertime since the village was about seven hours from Konoha if you could somewhat chakra run. If we were walking it would have taken ten hours. Kinoe assured us he could have made it in four hours or less if he had to.

"This place is a dump." Bu uttered to Kyuketsu and I as we watched a drunk stumble out of the tavern and fall into a pile of what I hoped to be just mud. The flies that erupted out of it when he splattered it everywhere made me think otherwise though. Bu and I both made faces while Kyuketsu couldn't have given any less fucks.

Kinoe knocked on the door to the manor that looked like it belonged to the village head. He was something like a low lord but he ruled the farmlands around here and reported to the actual daimyo. He clearly was something of a corrupt leader because he was the only one living in luxury. A servant answered the door and we stepped inside to find he wasn't living in the same luxury we did back home. Electricity wasn't a thing in small villages like this one and inside the house was about ten degrees hotter than outside.

Bu didn't mind and Kyuketsu didn't visibly seemed changed but Kinoe and I both immediately felt sweat on our brows. I shared a look with him but he put up with it and we all bowed when a man in a formal yukata greeted us. I say formal yukata because what he was wearing wasn't grand enough to deserve the title of robes or kimono. It was a deep blue though and while a bit frayed on the edges it was in decent condition. The man had his hair in a sloppy samurai knot with a poorly grown attempt at a long mustache.

"Are you the team I requested?" the man asked, long sharp nose in the air as he regarded us with beady eyes.

Kinoe nodded, "Yes. I am Kinoe and these are my genin students, Obu, Fushicho, and Kyuketsu. We're here to apprehend the serial killer."

"Yes it is quite an irritating problem. My laborers are dying every night and we will be short staffed soon. Do what you wish with him when you catch him, I don't care." sniffed the man, but as he turned to walk away he gave me and the other preteens a once over, "Are you sure those children can handle this?"

"They are regarded as adults in the village." Kinoe answered promptly, his eyes narrowing very slightly.

"Very well. As long as the job is done." and then the village head swept out of the room with his servant following behind meekly.

Bu and I shared annoyed glances and Kinoe rolled his eyes. We waited until after we left the manor to complain to each other about his attitude.

"I can't believe that guy!" Bu insisted, "Children!?"

"Calm yourself Pinky. You're twelve." Kinoe told him and that did nothing to help Bu. Instead he started to whine about being called Pinky. As he did we booked two rooms at the inn, one for Bu and Kyuketsu and one for Kinoe and I.

At Bu's outrage he had to share with Kyuketsu, Kinoe cheekily replied, "But I have to keep the Hime away from you hormonal boys don't I?"

"SENSEI!"

Bu's cry probably disturbed the other guests, well, if there were even any other guests. I honestly couldn't see any reason for there to be guests in this inn for such a small pathetic village. We gathered in Kinoe and I's room and Kinoe explained the situation.

"The killer is active only at night, it seems, and has a victim generally once a night, sometimes every other night. The population here is starting to drop from the nightly killings so we're going to patrol and look for anything out of the ordinary. Most people are avoiding going out but the serial killer has been killing inside homes and hasn't left a trace." Kinoe told us, leaning against the window and looking out at the town square. The sun was starting to set and was causing everything to be bathed in a bright orange. The rays shone through the window and illuminated Kinoe's stony face.

Bu grinned, "So if we stand in the square do you think we can get him?"

"What about the villagers who live outside the square?" Kyuketsu shot him down almost immediately and with a vague tone of haughtiness.

"Actually," Kinoe turned his head and waved his hand at Bu, "He's not wrong. All the villagers live around the town square. There's about nine hundred villagers currently living here and who knows how many huts." Even Kinoe was admitting the houses were basically huts. The town square had higher quality homes that could actually be called a house while as you followed the dirt streets further out you came across shittier buildings until you reached the crappy huts with straw roofs and plank walls.

"So we stake out the town tonight?" I questioned.

We all were in agreement so as soon as it was dark we split into two groups. Bu and I were one group while Kinoe took Kyuketsu. Kyuketsu and Kinoe, both more talented at chakra running, would do runs around the further out houses while periodically checking on Bu and I while Bu and I took the main streets and town square. Bu and I kept moving until what felt like midnight when the moon was glaring down at us and bathing us in silver light.

We sat on a bench outside the crappy general store we found on the outskirts of the square and watched the square for activity. Despite our break we were focusing and our eyes were constantly moving. After awhile I felt eyes on me and I scanned the village for any villagers. Most of the houses were dark while some had burning light that flickered with candles. My night vision was better than Bu's and I could see much farther than him.

"You look good."

I startled and my head swiveled to look at Bu, "Excuse me?"

Bu blinked, "Sorry. That was weird. The moonlight makes you look cool, I said."

I narrowed my eyes at him but at that moment I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. My sharingan swirled into existence and Bu jumped as I turned and stared. A civilian was walking across the town and seemed to have come from the manor that housed the leader. I stood and Bu, squinting into the dark, might have caught the figure. I hurried towards them with Bu right on my heels and I was stunned to find a girl, dressed in a long white night gown, was walking barefoot across the dirt path. Her hair was long and a light brown that fell in waves past her hips. She had an off feeling to her and as I tasted her chakra she tasted like that coating on some pills. That was the strongest taste because there was an underlying sweeter taste of candy and... maybe latte?

"Excuse me?" Bu called and I mentally chastised him. Why call out to a potential serial killer? Bu would be the worst horror movie character.

The girl gasped and turned to face us. She resembled the village leader a bit with high cheekbones and a kind of beak nose. Other than that her eyes were large but an emptier dark brown than the leader's. She was maybe our age or maybe even younger and Bu, the softie, didn't immediately suspect her like me.

"You shouldn't be out here so late. What are you doing?" Bu huffed lightly as if talking to one of the girls in our class.

She put her hand to her mouth and her bangs fell over her eyes as she eyed our hitai-ate. Her voice barely went above a whisper, sounding more like she was breathing her words, "I'm an insomniac. I can't sleep at night so I'm going for a walk."

"It's not safe out here." insisted Bu, "Where do you live? I'll walk you home."

"I'll be fine. Please, just leave me alone." the girl shook her head and then she turned abruptly and continued on her walk. Bu and I shared a look.

I gave Bu a look and he shook his head, "No way. She's too small to be a serial killer."

"We're killers and we're about the same age." I stated and Bu winced.

"None of us have killed anyone yet. So you can't say that, you just can't, Fu-chan."

"Did you just call me Fu-chan?" I demanded, bewildered. An expression flashed across Bu's face that resembled a deer in headlights look.

"Uh..." Bu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Since you've always called me Bu, I figured I should call you something like it."

I rolled my eyes, "You nerd. Fine, but drop the honorific. If you're Bu then I guess I'm Fu."

Bu's eyes widened but he nodded, "Alright. Fu then."

That's when we heard the scream. The moment of bonding was over and we were chakra dashing over to where the scream came from. My eyes searching for a chakra signature we found the source of the screaming. We busted down a door to find a woman screaming at the top of her lungs with her husband, gushing blood from a gaping hole in his throat and his innards effectively scattered across the floor, held tightly in her lap. His blood was mixing across her nightclothes but she didn't seem to care as she screamed to the heavens.

"Fuck. We missed him." Bu swore.

I agreed but a sinking feeling had me suspecting that girl as the killer, "Go tell sensei. I'll try and calm the woman down."

I was genuinely awful at calming her down by the way. By the time Kinoe got there she was still screaming and I was looking for evidence, thoroughly done with trying to stop the woman. Kinoe was able to stop her from screaming with his sugary words and bright eyes, then he slapped a seal on her that knocked her out. He put her in her bed and we searched the area for any clues.

I found what I was looking for when I was outside. A footprint was sunken into the mud of a small bare foot. This condemned her. She was probably the serial killer.

After cleaning up the scene and reporting to the leader I waited until Kinoe and I were settling into our beds to let him know about the girl. I slept on my stomach and I was clutching a pillow on the futon while listening to Kinoe roll around until he finally seemed to find a comfortable spot.

"I think I know who the killer is." I mentioned casually.

Kinoe, sounding half asleep but probably completely awake, hummed, "Oh? You do?"

I lifted my head off my pillow and looked over at the dark silhouette that was Kinoe, "A little girl. She walked out of the leader's house-" Kinoe snorted and interrupted me, "You mean the lord?" and I continued, "Shut up. Anyway, there was something off about her. Her eyes looked empty and even her chakra felt weird."

"Describe her chakra. Did you look at her with your sharingan?" Kinoe pushed.

I shook my head, "I did from a distance. I turn it off when I'm dealing with civilians because it kind of scares them. And she tasted like candy, pills and what kind of tasted like a latte?"

Kinoe stilled for a moment, "What kind of pill?"

"I can't identify pills by taste, what do you think I am? I could identify the taste of like, a pill coating. Like it reminded me of when I got my wisdom teeth out and they gave me an antibiotic that tasted horrible." I explained. I was slightly mystified that Kinoe, apparently, thought I could recognize pills by taste or that he might be able to.

"We might be dealing with another Samsara here. Did she act her age?" Kinoe questioned, "Generally, Samsaras have off chakra for the first few years and for me, they've always had a weird aura. Like, you can't imagine a color that doesn't exist but these auras are like that. They're a color that just can't be described. Have you ever sensed something weird like that?"

"No. But I've run into tastes and smells that don't... belong." I muttered.

Kinoe prompted, "How so?"

"They taste like something from the old world. You taste like that old gross cherry or grape medicine from the old world for example, and under that you're mint. And... wait, oil?" I had never tasted oil from Kinoe before. Usually only mint and medicine.

Kinoe hummed, "Then you can probably pick out Samsaras like that. This girl tasted like pills and lattes? We clearly don't have lattes here, so she's probably a Samsara."

"But what about the oil?" I demanded. Kinoe sighed.

"I had a motorcycle in my old life. It was the biggest part of my life, to be honest. I guess some things come with us from then. As for the cherry medicine... I was sick, in my old life. Dying actually. But that's not what killed me." Kinoe's tone turned somber, "Listen, Samsaras are more common than you think. But most of them don't make it. If you haven't seen Naruto this world is a shock. Not only that but it depends who you were in your old life. Were you sane and strong willed, or a small child, or someone weak, or someone mental? Did you die ready to die, or were you unwilling? Samsaras often die young because they can't handle being reborn. They go crazy. We're some of the lucky ones who watched Naruto and realized where we were."

I was silent as I digested the information. Kinoe rolled over to face me and the moonlight fell perfectly across his eyes to reveal they were glossy. Was he holding back tears?

"Let's just go to sleep. We'll stalk your girl tomorrow and catch her in the act."

And that was it. We went to sleep without any more words being said.

The next morning Bu shared some of the food his mother loaded him up with like he had the night before with the fresh bentos Onna sent him with. We chowed down and Kinoe told us we could explore the village or train until dusk where we would meet back in the town center. Training however was to be done where we wouldn't bother civilians.

Bu and I decided to fuck around for the entirety of the day and we found their marketplace. It had mostly traveling merchants who went from town to town daily, and they're probably the reason this shitty place has an inn. We perused their goods for awhile until Bu wandered into a caravan that looked like a gypsy caravan. I followed after him and it was mostly a fabric store where the owner was a small old woman who was paying full attention to her spinning wheel.

"I knew you were girly, Bu, but a fabric store? Gosh, you're gonna be a man's dream housewife some day." I snickered. Bu's face flushed.

He looked away and stuttered, "I'm not a girl! I just... had an idea."

Bu shooed me out when I continued to make fun and he actually did buy something. But he was sealing it away when he came out and I didn't get to see what it was.

Shrugging, I started to walk away and I called over my shoulder, "Come on, Yamato Nadeshiko!"

"Shut up!"

When dusk came we all met back up and Kyuketsu made small talk with us while we waited for Kinoe. I made fun of Bu's feminine qualities once again and Kyuketsu agreed when I once again decided to call Bu a yamato nadeshiko. He was pretty much an ideal woman except for a few minor masculine details.

Kinoe arrived in a shunshin and clapped his hands down on both of Kyuketsu's shoulders, "Guess what we have a lead!"

Kyuketsu didn't even jump. It's okay though because Bu did despite him being in full view of Kinoe's abrupt arrival.

"What is it?" Kyuketsu was the one to inquire.

Smiling, Kinoe announced, "A girl by the name of Misa. She's the daughter of the lord and has been noted to be a bit off by the villagers."

"The lord's daughter?" Bu repeated before looking at me, "Fu, you dont think that's the girl from last night?"

I looked away and could almost feel his disappointment in the air. I tried to withdraw my chakra sense but the burning was too much. Pulling in chakra was like standing in the steam pouring out of a kettle. It started as uncomfortable but it could scald you if you weren't careful. Chakra was very emotional and I didn't want to feel Bu's disappointment and sadness.

Kinoe clapped his hands together and we all turned to look at him, "I want us to make a perimeter around the manor. If anyone leaves I want you to spike your chakra and we'll all meet up and tail whoever left."

"That will leave an opening." Kyuketsu pointed out.

Kinoe shrugged, "I doubt anyone besides our killer will be roaming the streets."

And our plan was set. And about the same time as the previous night the same girl wearing the same nightgown exited and started to wander through town. We followed quietly on the roofs and we knew we had our killer when she produced a key and let herself into one of the villager's houses. Bu was clearly irritated and Kinoe communicated he wanted Bu and Kyuketsu to keep watch while he and I entered.

We landed quietly and followed her inside.

That was when the scream came. We were in time to witness this girl, no bigger than myself, cleave through a man's chest with a long knife. She twisted it into his chest as he choked on his own blood with a gurgle. His scream ended just as abruptly as it had started and he fell backwards after the girl pulled her knife back and kicked him in the chest. She turned to face us as if she knew all along we were there.

A grin was stretched across her face as wide as it could go and her eyes were full of sadness and insanity. She pointed the knife at us, "You two understand, don't you?"

Kinoe shook his head slowly, "I'm sorry Misa-chan-"

"That's not my name!" she shrieked. Her eyes widened and she snarled, "My name is _Allison_! I should be dead! Why don't any of these people come back to life when I kill them, too?!"

"Allison, calm down-" Kinoe tried again, but she grabbed her head and started to yell in garbled English.

" _Why didn't I stay de-ad? I took so ma-ny pills! I just want-ed it to end! And y-et I'm still here. Why aren't these other people dy-ing and com-ing back to li-fe too?" she sniffled, "I just wan-ted to die."_

Kinoe and I shared a look.

Allison continued, grabbing a lock of her hair and pulling on it as she ranted, _"You two keep flick-ering faces and it piss-es me off! Pick a face! Red hair or black hair? Black hair or blonde hair!? Eye-s! Stop look-ing at me with tho-se eye-s!"_

"Allison, listen to me." Kinoe actually got her to look at him this time, "You were reborn into another world, Allison."

Allison paused. She looked down at her blood splattered dress with solemn eyes. She looked up and her eyes seemed to show an adult intelligence.

She smiled, _"My name is Allison. I am twenty-five years old. I killed myself. And I am going to do it again."_

And she did as she said she would. She plunged her knife into her throat and both Kinoe and I were far too in shock to do anything about it. Allison crumpled to her knees as she yanked the knife out. Arterial spray caught both Kinoe and I and I had to to turn away. I fell to my knees and rested my head on the wall while Kinoe put Allison, giggling and gurgling, out of her misery.

Kinoe brought me outside to wait with Kyuketsu and Bu. Bu tried to comfort me but I hardly heard what he was saying.

Fushicho's screaming laughter was ringing in my ears getting louder and louder. There was nothing I could do to block her out. The burning was intensifying and I had to sit down. I was hyperventilating and surely Bu and Kyuketsu were concerned but I couldn't focus outside of myself anymore.

Finally Fushicho's screams ended and she cooed, " _People are so fragile, aren't they, Veronica?_ "

* * *

 **AN-**

 **I'm going to try once a month updates. I wanted to do beginning of the month but this chapter ended up being incredibly long.**

 **Why did I put this as T rating, I should probably up it to M. I'm just M rated in general.**

 **Fun Fact \- I made an outline of the story for a few arcs. Yay!**

 **Thanks to the following for updating (:**

 **lizyeh2000  
Thomas Drovin  
FleurSuoh  
MangaFox1223  
Slytherson**


	14. Homeward Fall

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 14_

 _Homeward Fall_

* * *

I don't remember much of what happened between Allison's death and me finding myself in the inn. Everything was a blur with Fushicho's dark taunts in my ears. When I came back to reality Kinoe was waiting for me. He was clean and must have showered after returning us to the inn. He was actually wearing pajamas and reading a scroll looking quite content.

He must have sensed my eyes on him, "Oh you're back with us?"

I nodded and he rolled up his scroll to give me his full attention. His violet eyes pierced into mine and I looked away.

"Did you ever have... another you?"

Kinoe blinked, "Another me...? Oh, I think I understand. You mean the real soul or, the real Kinoe, don't you?"

"You have one too?" I demanded immediately, leaning forward with my hands on my knees.

Kinoe nodded slowly, "They're a part of the reason Samsaras lose it. I was lucky. Kinoe was passive and perfectly fine with me being here. Some are content and some don't even let you know they're there. I haven't met anyone still sane who has had a bad one."

"What do I do about her?" I questioned quietly.

"There's not much you can do. They never leave you so you have to mediate with them to give you peace. Kinoe hasn't acted up in years. Some Samsaras never even know they have them." Kinoe shrugged, "You just have to live with it."

I snuggled into the blanket on my futon and listened to Kinoe's breathing. I let my senses spread out to the room beside us where Bu and Kyuketsu were sitting. Gunpowder and cinnamon was the majority of Bu while Kyuketsu was a very muted sweet flavor. They had changed a bit over the years but by now it was natural for me to just know who was who.

"What we saw today was sad, but we're all pretty sad aren't we? Tell me the story of how you died, Veronica." Kinoe murmured suddenly. I tightened my blanket around me.

The room was suddenly warm and I was brought back to my death.

 _"You're such a bitch, Veronica!"_

 _"And you're an asshole!"_

I closed my eyes and the flames were dancing in front of me and slowly taking over me, "I fought with my brother. He locked me in my bedroom while he was cooking because I was messing with him. He fucked up and the apartment started to burn. He forgot he locked me in my room and got out himself. I couldn't fit out my window and by the time rescue came the entire apartment went up in flames."

I swallowed, "Do you ever wonder what happened after you died?"

" _I'm not sure you want to know_." Fushicho whispered to me, suddenly standing amidst the flames and holding out a fleshy hand, " _But I can show you_."

I opened my eyes and she disappeared with a horrible amused shriek.

"I was sick." Kinoe began and I looked at him from behind my bangs. He lifted his hands and reached towards the ceiling, "Cancer. I went through it all once and then relapsed. I wasn't going through it all again so I killed myself. At the time I figured, why go through the trouble for such a shitty life? Quality of life and all that. It was like I blinked. One minute I'm putting a bullet through my head and the next I'm being ejected out of a uterus."

Kinoe rubbed the side of his head, "If you look there's a scar here from where I shot myself. It's like how you have burn scars. I think it's a reminder..."

When he didn't finish, I asked him what he meant. He didn't answer after that and I took it as a sign he'd tell me when he was ready to.

We left the town somber after dealing with an enraged and grieving lord. Kinoe took care of it all and before I knew it I was stepping into my home with the familiar smell of the incense Sasuke usually lit to make the house smell nice. Sasuke stuck his head out from a doorway and I was relieved to see him.

"I'm home-"

Sasuke, rudely, cut me off with a nasty glare, "A note. You left me with a note!"

I was bewildered, "What are you going on about?"

Sasuke threw the note I left for him at me. It fell to the floor slowly and I could see he had crumpled it up and probably threw it around a couple times. I gave him a questioning look.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You just left a note saying you were leaving. It wasn't even an informative note!"

"It's not like I'm going to go interrupt your class to tell you I'm leaving." I retorted and Sasuke was very displeased with this response.

"Whatever. Learn how to write better notes." and Sasuke retreated back into the kitchen. I picked up the note from the floor and looked at it. I felt a bit of remorse gather in the back of my mind but I pushed it away and went to throw my stuff in my room and wash my clothes.

That night dinner was quiet between Sasuke and I. There was hardly a goodnight between us and as I stared up at my ceiling I wondered when we had drifted so far apart.

The next day Bu was back to his usual antics. We had an off day but we all still decided to meet up and get food. When I got to the meeting place, Bu was surprisingly talking to Kyuketsu.

"Please?" Bu was in the middle of begging.

Kyuketsu, as soulless as he was, was having a hard time denying Bu's pout. I had to admit one thing, and that was that Bu could really pull off a puppy dog look. I didn't usually fall for it and Bu stopped bothering me with it. But Kyuketsu, cold and mean, seemed to be struggling against the big orange eyes Bu possessed.

"What's up?" I questioned as I slouched on the wall. Bu jumped an impressive height for not using any chakra and he wildly turned to look at me.

"Nothing!" Bu swung his arms around rapidly, insisting again, "It's nothing!"

Kyuketsu rolled his eyes, "You'll make fun of him for it."

Bu looked over his shoulder and I didn't quite catch his expression. He turned back to me and gave me sheepish look, "Yeah. Don't worry about it."

But now I wanted to know. I turned to Kyuketsu, "What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing!" Bu cried, shooting Kyuketsu a look that screamed for help.

"His crush." Kyuketsu, bluntly, stated, not caring as Bu nearly deflated, "He wanted help seducing her."

Bu made a choking noise, "Please don't use 'seducing' because that sounds vulgar. I'm not trying to... you know."

And here we have a pervert in the making. Remember when I was creeped out by the amount of academy girls interested in boys? Here we have the next level of that. Twelve year olds already thinking about sex. Of course, I don't really remember much about being twelve in my first life but I know for a fact it wasn't until late middle school I was truly educated on the subject. Moving on from this incredibly awkward subject.

Kyuketsu looked up at the sky. He pondered for a moment before nodding to himself.

Very seriously, Kyuketsu announced, "Beguile her, then."

I cackled at the negative connotations of the word while Bu sighed, "You're so mean to me."

"Beguile is the correct term." Kyuketsu decided firmly.

"Can we go eat now?" Bu nearly whined.

I grinned, "Only if you tell me who your crush is."

Bu visibly wilted. I turned to Kyuketsu who shook his head. Despite being such an aloof person he seemed to have an idea on how to be a bro. I could respect that.

Not.

I stood up on my toes so that I could be taller than Bu. He looked unimpressed by my intimidation tactic considering the fact he was still pretty eye level with me. I couldn't wait until I shot up before him and could laugh at him for being a short little fuck. Same with Kyuketsu.

"Race you to Teppan!" Bu shouted, sprinting off.

Kyuketsu started to jog after him, calling, "Umenohana is healthier!"

As the two disappeared I rolled my eyes. They were quirky assholes, but I had to admit that I enjoyed their presence. Even if Kyuketsu was a snarky bastard and Bu was a little bitch. I followed along casually and we had a nice meal at Teppan. I was a fan of their food and despite Kyuketsu still preferring the much stuffier Umenohana he also enjoyed their dishes occasionally.

That night I returned home and Sasuke greeted me with a half-assed welcome home and I was slightly insulted that he wouldn't even give me a proper greeting. But I let it go and with another stilted and uncomfortable dinner, my day off passed by quickly. Training started up again and I fell back into routine. Of course Sasuke and I slowly warmed up a bit more but we were still far more distant than we ever had been.

"I don't know what to do." I admitted to Bu, Kyuketsu and Kinoe one afternoon as we took a break under a tree. We were working heavy taijutsu recently and my muscles felt like they were going to melt off if we kept this up. Of course I was actually very pleased. I was in very good shape and my body was already starting to form those chiseled abs and sculpted biceps. I wouldn't actually have those for a few years. though, despite my bragging. I exaggerated my fitness early in my second life because I was already beyond my past life's shitty bodily limits.

Kinoe cooed and leaned over, pinching my cheeks, "Are we having boy troubles, wittle Fushicho-chan?"

I hyper-extended his elbow with a swift hit and Kinoe gasped before immediately healing it. He didn't even need his other hand to heal it. Show off. After his elbow could bend painlessly he retracted it and pouted at me.

"Not in the way you're thinking, you old fuck." I rolled my eyes while Kinoe feigned insult and Bu and Kyuketsu face-palmed at my language, "Sasu and I are fighting."

"You and Sasuke-san were always close though." Kyuketsu remarked, Bu adding, "Yeah you had that like, twin connection!"

"Well that twin connection thing isn't working very well right now." I snapped, "He's acting like he has a stick up his ass!"

"So like you." Kinoe hummed thoughtfully. I glared at him but didn't say anything in response. Bu snickered and Kyuketsu cracked a smirk.

I pushed off the tree and rolled onto my back. A leaf drifted down from the tree and landed on my forehead. I glared at it until it started to smoke. I stopped when I feared it would burst into flames. Kinoe's ever judging eyes watched me closely.

"Perhaps he's upset because of your personality?" Kinoe suggested, and I looked him in the eyes. His violet eyes shone with the dark truth, "You're not the best sister in the world."

I was insulted. I couldn't believe Kinoe had just said that. I took care of Sasuke! I cooked, albeit poorly, bought groceries and cleaned sometimes. And I made us money! (Even though we were pretty rich regardless)

"He's not wrong." Kyuketsu commented, looking thoughtful.

I glared at him. Bu kept quiet, but Kinoe spoke up again, "You don't spend time with him."

"I spend time with him!" I retorted immediately.

"Eating dinner doesn't count, Fu." Bu pointed out after watching me steam for a moment.

I went to defend myself again but as I opened my mouth, everything just died. I couldn't think of the last time Sasuke and I just... hung out. It couldn't have been back when the clan was alive? Definitely not. But I really couldn't think of anything within the last few months.

I grit my teeth and I could feel the heat rising in my chest.

How could I have been so stupid?

A handsome face appeared in my mind with light blue-gray eyes and straw colored hair. It viciously disappeared and was replaced by terrible flames. My eyes shot open (When had I closed them?) and I breathed in. All I could smell was smoke and ashes. My hands were clammy and Kinoe was in front of me. I vaguely heard him telling me to breathe and calm down.

 _"Veronica_ ," Fushicho laughed cruelly, " _You're a terrible sister, aren't you_?"

What happened in my last life was unfortunate. No, that's a rather bland way to put it. It fucking sucked. My brother and I fought often and got along only when we both benefited. I doubt he killed me off on purpose, but the fact still stands he left me in a burning apartment. He forgot I was locked in. Right? He

"Fushicho!"

Knocked out of my thoughts by Kinoe shaking me, I looked between Kinoe, Bu and Kyuketsu. They all appeared worried but I ignored that and pushed Kinoe off me. He sighed in relief.

"Thought you were having a psychotic break there." Kinoe huffed, Bu nodding quickly in agreement.

"Have you always done that smokey thing?" Bu questioned after Kyuketsu didn't react in the slightest.

I stared at him. Kinoe fell backwards dramatically and he was ignored.

Kyuketsu looked like he had to stop himself from face palming, "You've known her for years and you just now notice it?"

"I mean I have seen it. When she gets mad she gets all hot and she kind of steams." Bu muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"And when is Fushicho mad?" Kyuketsu pushed.

"Alright alright I get it." Bu looked away in embarrassment, "She's literally always angry."

I was too caught up in my own problems at that moment to fight Bu for saying I was always angry. I'll have you know I was a ray of sunshine when nothing interesting was going on!

"It's an Uchiha thing." I dismissed easily, lying. Kinoe nearly choked on the pencil that always hung from the corner of his mouth. At least the choking covered up his snort.

Kyuketsu narrowed his eyes at me and clearly thought I was full of shit. But he didn't call me out on it so I simply stood up.

"I'm going to go do something with Sasu." I announced.

"Finally." Kinoe sighed, "Poor kid probably forgets he has a sister." Along with that statement was a pointed look.

"There's a new movie playing, you two should go see it-" I tuned out the rest of what Bu was saying. Movies here weren't as good as movies from my old life. Special effects sucked ass and while some of the cool shit was real, since you know, chakra and ninja, the other stuff was awful. And they don't have concessions for movies. You literally just chill and watch a movie on a bigger screen than the shitty TVs that you saw rarely used in the village. Correction: civilians use TVs a lot, ninjas kind of just do ninja things their entire lives. I was a ninja thus, a training montage is literally my life.

I walked to the academy and waited on the swing outside for about twenty minutes until the academy let out. When Sasuke walked out his eyes lazily scanned the schoolyard before he did a double take. He stared for a moment when he saw me and then he decided to ignore me and keep walking with Naruto talking his ear off.

Childish little shit. Ignoring me? How rude.

I was equally childish in how I showed off that I could do cool ninja things. I jumped between the roofs within his eyesight and casually walked on the sides of buildings and fences. Sasuke was like me in that he was pretty easy to piss off and like me, he sat there and simmered until he boiled over. Sasuke though, had a class I didn't have. He waited until Naruto was gone to confront me.

"What do you want, Fushicho!" Sasuke yelled.

I lost my grip on the wall I was standing on and I fell flat on my front. Sasuke blinked at me and I was surprised at how wounded I was. Not physically, by the way. That fall was nothing. Anyway, Fushicho? I had never been Fushicho to him. I was Shicho. Shicho-chan. I was not Fushicho.

"What did you say?" I asked quietly.

Sasuke frowned, and quietly demanded, "What do you want, Fushicho?"

"Fushicho?" I echoed, "Not Shicho?"

Sasuke scoffed, "We're not kids anymore. You should stop calling me 'Sasu' too. Your lisp isn't that bad anymore."

His words dug deep. I was silent for a moment and, as Bu would have put it, I simmered. The steam and smoke swirled around inside me before I hit my boiling point. Then, I exploded.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" I snarled. Sasuke got defensive and took a step back, folding his arms.

"You're never home! You're always out training and 'working'! So stop acting like a child! Don't yell at me just because you're too pig-headed to notice!" Sasuke shouted. I pushed myself off the ground and leaned against the wall I had originally been standing on. I tried to cool my anger but I was just so mad. How dare he call me childish? I wasn't a child! I never was a child!

I wanted to grab Sasuke by his collar and shake him. Instead I balled my hands into fists and growled, "I have to train. You want me to fucking die too?"

A brief dark look flashed across Sasuke's face. His glasses glinted in the light and he stepped forward and got into my face, "You're not allowed to die. Don't think you can get off that easy."

"Get off easy?" I laughed, "You sound like a stupid little fuck right now! Who do you think you are?! Huh!?"

Sasuke breathed in, probably to try and calm himself, but it didn't work.

"I'm going to be the one who fixes our fucked up family!" he snarled lowly, "You and Itachi are the same, aren't you? Leaving me behind like I don't know anything!"

I opened my mouth to retort, but anything I could have said died in my throat. As I looked at Sasuke I realized I wasn't quite sure who I was looking at. He wasn't the sarcastic and nerdy little boy anymore. How old were we now? Eleven. We were eleven now. We were still kids. But were we really?

"Fight me." Sasuke suddenly challenged me. I blinked and tried to push away the thoughts of canon Sasuke that were starting to claw at me.

"Fight me," he repeated, "I'll beat you. I'll show you that I'm strong."

"That wasn't what I came here to do-" I tried to say, but Sasuke cut me off. He slammed his fist into the wall.

"You don't understand! You never do!" Sasuke's eyes looked glossy and he looked away.

I didn't want to fight Sasuke. Nothing against the academy or anything, but what they taught there and what I had been learning for years was different. Months of training with my team and years of being Kakashi's underling made me worthy of the title Genin. I was by no means ready for an actual life or death fight but I would wipe the floor with Sasuke.

"Alright." I conceded, "Let's fight."

We walked to the training grounds and everyone who was in our path there got the fuck out of the way. If Sasuke was any indication of how angry both of us were, I probably wouldn't have gotten in our way either. We went to one of the training grounds inside the Uchiha district. We stood across from each other and declared everything was allowed. Any jutsu, whether it Genjutsu or Ninjutsu, as well as weapons. I wanted to protest both those things but Sasuke was adamant so I let it slide.

Then, the fight began.

It began quietly. A simple 'Go!' and we were off. We locked up, kunai against kunai. We were evenly matched for a moment before I overpowered Sasuke. He looked like he didn't quite believe that I had so easily pushed his kunai all the way back. He abandoned that and jumped back, tossing shuriken at me. Kinoe, being a medic, taught us the ways of dodging like a pro. Not to mention whenever we fought against Kinoe he liked to catch us and fling us around like ragdolls with his chains. Needless to say, I was not getting hit by a fucking shuriken thrown by my silly brother.

I almost didn't believe how easy it felt to fight Sasuke. We weren't that much different but it really did feel like I was so much stronger than him. Sasuke got a good kick in towards my arms though and then I started to get a bit more serious. Our fight wasn't too impressive. It could probably classify as a friendly spar if you ignored how angry Sasuke was.

Of course, something I forgot is that Sasuke is my brother. That means he knew my weaknesses.

"Katon, Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Sasuke sounded very much like Itachi, those years ago when he first learned about my fear of fire. Sasuke learned much later than Itachi but I was frozen when I realized such a large fire ball was approaching me. It was in slow motion and I had time to compare it to Itachi's. It was nowhere near as large but it was just as terrifying in my eyes.

My body moved on its own and got the hell out of the way of the fire. I collapsed and stared at the charred ground that could have been me. That was me, once upon a time. When I wasn't shaking anymore I managed to turn to look at Sasuke. So many emotions were running through me and Sasuke looked just as conflicted.

"I'm stronger than you." Sasuke finally said. But it was clear that wasn't the case. Between the two of us, Sasuke was breathing heavily and had several bruises forming on his arms.

I stood up, "You want to fight with fire, Sasuke?"

I felt tears in my eyes and Sasuke blinked. As his own eyes widened I inhaled deeply. I could feel something different than the anger and rage that normally filled me. Something devastating sat in my stomach. I didn't hear Fushicho anymore and my mind was surprisingly clear.

I exhaled.

From my lips flames licked out and before I actually started to breathe fire, I closed my mouth and swallowed.

"How...?" Sasuke whispered, "No. I've seen your smoke before but..."

"I've been training hard Sasuke. Compare me to Ita all you want but we both know he's strong. If we want to find out what happened that day then we need to be just as strong, if not stronger." I told him confidently. Sasuke turned away.

I raised my hands over my head as I felt the odd feeling float away and Fushicho return to haunt the darkness of my mind, "I guess I'll try and spend more time with you though. Let's go bother Bu and see if his mom's making dinner."

Sasuke looked up in disbelief. For a moment something flashed across his eyes but I couldn't tell what. Then a small smile graced his lips and he shook his head, "Hardheaded as usual. Fine, let's go to your boyfriend's then."

"Fuck you! He's not my boyfriend you little-"

"Then the other one's your boyfriend."

"I should have _ended_ you just now."

And yet as we bickered, a smile crept across my own lips and I found myself easing into a real sibling relationship.

* * *

 **AN**

 **Hey. Guess what. I'm bad at monthy updates. I tried.**

 **Blame college applications. I'm so behind it's not even funny. I'm ready to die now. Also someone in my family died and that was two weeks of stuff.**

 **I was very inspired by looking at fanart for Catch Your Breath and Iryo Nin Kasa (That i'm on like chapter 20 of currently).**

 **Fun Fact \- Fushicho tries to hide her angry smoke but she's pretty hot tempered so that works... kind of.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing(:**

 **Thomas Drovin**  
 **lizyeh2000**  
 **LexisRee**  
 **kylC**


	15. People I Like

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 15_

 _People I Like_

* * *

Kinoe lived in a kind of alright apartment. It was in the higher class district where jounin and ANBU usually lived, mixed with some civilians. I wasn't sure what I had expected when I knocked on his door but I got a good laugh from Kinoe's pajamas.

"Hime?" Kinoe mumbled, half asleep. It was probably about seven in the morning and I had ditched Bu and Kyuketsu for the morning in favor of talking to Kinoe. I spent most of the night awake and thinking about Sasuke. But my thoughts branched further out from just Sasuke. Since I was so low on sleep I was in a worse mood that usual. I pushed past Kinoe, wearing a half open bathrobe with bunny slippers, and glanced around his apartment before I found his couch. I sat down and Kinoe followed me, yawning as he walked.

"Can I help you?" he managed to ask through an especially long yawn while throwing himself onto the couch beside me.

I nodded, "Tell me about Kinoe's life."

"Kinoe's life?" he blinked, "How did you go from fighting your brother to that?"

For a second I didn't catch what he said. But then I realized he must have spectated my fight with Sasuke, "Were you... spying on us!?"

"Excuse me! I'll have you know I am a secondary source!" Kinoe exclaimed, immediately defensive at my angry tone.

I scowled. Who was it then? Bu? Kyuketsu? I bet it was fucking Bu. I was going to maim him when I saw him later. How dare he watch something so personal!

Kinoe interrupted my murderous pondering, "Um, it wasn't either of your teammates. It was Kakashi." It says something that Kinoe immediately knew who I was going after.

"Kakashi?" I repeated. What the hell had Kakashi been doing there? Kakashi's thoughts on me were something between "I would not touch with a five foot pole" and "Small child prone to tantrums". That means he doesn't come visiting my home nor does he watch me and my brother have a sibling spat.

Kinoe grinned and enlightened me, "He was pissed off at you. You didn't tell him we left on a mission so you wasted his valuable time since he thought he had training sessions with us."

Oh shit. So that was who I forgot to tell when we were leaving the village. I knew I forgot someone. At least Kakashi wasn't the most important person to have not been informed.

Wait. I'm being sidetracked. Fuck off Kinoe.

"Don't try and avoid my question! I want to know what you have been doing as Kinoe!" I announced again. Kinoe shifted and ran a hand over his chin.

"Hm, I think I need to shave." Kinoe stood up and I grabbed his robe and growled.

Kinoe sat back down, "Can you at least tell me what brought this up in that airy little head of yours?"

I ignored the insult to focus on getting the conversation where I wanted it to go, although I was steaming about being called an air-head, "I was awake all night. I probably slept a total of an hour or two. I just kept thinking, Sasu is my brother. He is actually my brother."

"Yes, you both came from your mother." hummed Kinoe, leaning back and putting his feet up on the table.

I rolled my eyes, "No you idiot. Like, it just hit me. He's not just Sasuke. He's Sasu."

"You finally realized he's an actual human being instead of some character?" Kinoe guessed, and I blinked at him, "You're wondering about Kushina-nee."

I opened my mouth but Kinoe kept talking, "I tried to hint to you yesterday that Sasuke needed some TLC. You need to remember that you're all he has now. Pushing him away is going to make him an asshole. No one likes an asshole brother."

"How are you so calm?" I demanded. Kinoe looked surprised. He asked why he wouldn't be calm.

"Because it's Sasuke!" I exclaimed, "You know, important to this world! To the plot!"

"I hate to say it, but the plot is done fucked." sighed Kinoe, then he shrugged, "Well, kind of. The plot is a fucking stubborn asshole too."

I questioned that. Kinoe had to think for a moment and he decided to make tea while he tried to find a way he wanted to get out what came next. When the tea was done and he was much more awake and alert, he seemed much more open.

"I was born as Uzumaki Kinoe, younger brother to Uzumaki Kushina. I got the fuck out of Uzushio when Kushina-nee left so that's why I'm not dead or scattered. A lot of the Samsaras that know about the plot don't want to do anything. Some are using their knowledge to stay safe and out of harm while others aren't aware of the plot. There aren't many here, I suppose I'll introduce you to some later but as of now they're only going to do something if you do something crazy." Kinoe took a sip of his tea and took a moment to recuperate, "I didn't want my sister to die. I wasn't one of the ones who sat around and didn't do anything."

"Then what happened?" I inquired. I almost winced at how blunt I was. I wanted to ask in a much nicer way.

Kinoe closed his eyes and no doubt was remembering, vividly, October 10th, "I wasn't allowed to help with Naruto's birth because I was family. I tried to fight to be with my sister but no one would let me. You want to know who got in my fucking way? Danzo. I hate that goddamn old man. All day I'm running around trying to figure out how to get past that barrier because I'm good at what I do, but I'm god awful at anything I don't specialize in. I don't know jack shit about barriers. I get called to the Hokage's office when I'm guarding the barrier from the outside and hoping to stop Obito before he takes her away. Then I'm forced away."

"You couldn't just say fuck off?"

"You don't say no to orders, Fushicho. When I got back Danzo was the one who summoned me with his Root members and he told me to stop meddling in our Hokage's affairs. Danzo's never liked me, you see. Well after the fighting started against Kurama I rushed to try and find my sister. I wanted to heal her or at the very least stop Minato from using the reaper seal. Root blocked me again. You wondered why I don't go near Naruto? Danzo. He threatened him. Told me his Jinchuuriki status made him too important for my influences. Told me he'd take Naruto away if I went near him. What could I do? I lost all my political backing with Kushina-nee and Minato dying. So I let him defeat me. In the end, Naruto will become great with great friends and a great future without me."

Kinoe stopped talking and I slowly finished my tea and pretended I didn't hear the sniffles from Kinoe or see his glassy eyes.

"It wasn't even just Kushina-nee I lost. You remember what I said about Hinata's mother? Himawari? She was on my genin team. I... I fucking loved her. I told myself I wouldn't let her fall to her condemned fate. I did everything to heal her when she had Hanabi. She was alive. She was fine. For days there were no complications. But the plot will try its hardest to get back on track. Because somehow, Himawari died in the night. The plot is a fucking asshole." Kinoe put his head in his hands.

I didn't want to disturb Kinoe, but my final question came out of my mouth before I could stop it.

"Then why am I here?"

Kinoe didn't answer. We sat in silence for a long time. Then finally, Kinoe shakily whispered, "Why are you the only drastic change the plot has allowed?"

I couldn't reply to that. Instead I stood up. I apologized for intruding and told Kinoe that I would tell Kyuketsu and Bu there was no training for today. Then I closed the door and ignored the raging emotions that Kinoe's chakra was forcing out.

Honestly I had more questions now. Like, if the plot was so fixed, why was I here? Why was Sasuke so different? As a direct result of that, Naruto is changing as well. Who would Bu and Kyuketsu have been in canon? Would Kinoe exist? If so, who was he? Did he die in Uzushio? I haven't forgotten about the woman during the massacre either.

What did my future hold?

During my small existential crisis I arrived to the training grounds. Bu must have tried greeting me and when I didn't respond, he clearly wanted to be annoying. So I was knocked out of my thoughts by Bu tackling me. Obviously we both fell to the floor and I started to grapple with him.

"What the fuck?!" I yelled as I tried to strangle Bu with a choke hold. Bu tucked his chin down though so my hold did jack shit to him.

With his voice not hindered by my choke in the slightest, Bu announced, "Grappling!"

Kyuketsu sighed very loudly, probably to get us to stop, but as soon as Bu challenged me I was ready. Grappling for us was kind of any means necessary. If you grappled an enemy they would bite, punch, and everything in between. So that's why I didn't feel bad when I grabbed a good fistful of Bu's hair by his scalp and yanked.

Bu found the strength to roll us over and slam me into the ground. I lost my grip on his neck and Bu used this as a chance to try and pin me. The most ideal position would be a full mount, which is sitting on their chest. And Bu was an overachiever so he went for that. The problem with that is I'm very good with my legs and getting a full mount on me is very difficult.

Kyuketsu snorted as I brought one leg up and tried to strangle Bu with his neck behind my knee. I grabbed my ankle and tried to squeeze that leg's shin to my thigh. Bu however is a slippery bastard and got out. I used this as my chance to bring my other leg up and try to choke him out with both legs. Bu didn't really care for this much and he sat back and tried to get me in a leg lock.

After a few minutes of intense grappling the match ended with Kyuketsu remarking on how lewd our position was and Bu promptly tossing me away like I was diseased.

"You're such a little bitch!" I laughed, "Letting Kyu-Kyu get to you!"

Kyuketsu glowered at me and boy did I feel the intensity of it. But I ignored it.

The day went by as usual and before I knew it, several went by. My existential crisis was averted by timely moments with Bu and Kyuketsu. And don't worry. Sasuke and I made it a thing where we always did something every weekend and if a mission forced me to miss it then we did it during the week. This week we ate out and that was fun.

One morning, Kyuketsu had clan duties to attend to and Bu overslept. So I did was any person would do. I went to go wake up Bu in the rudest way possible. I mean I was pretty pissed off I was left waiting by myself at our training grounds at like six in the morning. So I went to Bu's house in high spirits to antagonize the boy. Instead of bothering to knock on the door or ring the bell I climbed the wall and let myself into Bu's room quietly.

Unlike usual his futon was neat and I found he was actually asleep at his desk. I crept over and observed what he had fallen asleep doing. His desk area was a huge mess with fabric everywhere and a pair of sharp scissors discarded off to the side. He was asleep on one arm and it looked like he fell asleep in the middle of sewing. A closer look and I realized he was actually embroidering onto fabric.

As I took a closer look Bu started to rouse from my presence. His eyes shot open and the needle he fell asleep with in his hand immediately got shoved through his hand as he tensed at noticing me. He bit down on his lip to stop from yelling.

"Oh shit, sorry Bu." I apologized, "My fault." I opened his injured hand and grimaced at the fact that the needle went cleanly through the side of his hand. Instead of letting Bu know what I was about to do I just grabbed the needle and ripped it out as quickly and cleanly as I could. Bu slammed his good hand down on the desk.

"You couldn't have warned me!?" Bu exclaimed, his voice high as he prevented from yelling again.

I shrugged, "Sorry I came unannounced."

Bu shook his head, "No that's perfectly fine. What I meant was you couldn't have told me you were going to pull the damn needle out!?"

Oh, that? I grinned, "It's better to rip a band-aid off than to slowly peel it."

Rolling his eyes Bu stood up. Then we both looked down at what he was wearing. I stifled a giggle. He was wearing pants this time, I'll give him that. But they had smiling turtles across them.

"Go ahead and laugh." Bu sighed, rubbing his head, "Shit, what time is it?"

That's when Bu's door slammed open and Onna stood confidently in the doorway with a sly smile, "Bu the door stays open when there's a girl in here. Especially if it's still dark out!"

Bu about died. I snickered and Onna offered me breakfast. I followed her downstairs while Bu got ready and soon he came down the stairs with his face still looking a bit pinker than usual. He couldn't make eye contact with neither me nor his mother. After breakfast Bu retrieved stuff from his room before running downstairs to meet with me outside.

I was surprised when I didn't see any of his gear, "We're not training today?"

"I need to buy some supplies. You're welcome to come." Bu looked away, "But if you make fun of me-"

"Let's go then. Is it for the thing you were embroidering?" I started to walk down the street and Bu ran after me.

Bu nodded, "Yeah. I'm almost done but I ran out of the thread I was using."

I hummed as if I understood. I had never embroidered something in either of my lives, nor had I sewn much. I did something for home ec in my last life but so far in this life I just turned ruined clothes into rags.

The sun had come up when we left the house. It was getting colder now which meant pants wouldn't kill me. Konoha was generally Florida most of the time but pants were more useful for ninja. If it wasn't summer when it became actual hell here then pants were fine. Especially if they were made of this really nice, but really expensive, fabric that pretty much ignored logic and kept out the heat. I decided to spoil myself and buy a shit load of clothes made with it since I was a rich brat who couldn't dent our fortune if I tried.

Reaching the market district put Bu in his element. I'm seriously telling you this kid is a domestic housewife. Sure he's a bit of a pyro sometimes, exploding and setting things on fire, but other than those minor flaws he's your ideal wife. Bu ignored the food stalls except for one selling spicy treats. He was a fan of spicy food and these were pretty much cookies with peppers instead of chocolate chips.

Bu offered me one as he inhaled one without an issue. I accepted warily and took a bite. Bu grinned when I made a noise and felt my tongue go "What the fuck?!" at me. I liked my food's taste doubled but I couldn't eat straight up peppers apparently. I could hardly taste my own burning through the actual burning that pepper caused.

We reached the door Bu was aiming for. When we entered I felt like I entered a really small Michaels. There were several shelves with different kinds of art supplies on it. Some had paints, some had inks, some had papers. It was really interesting so I walked through the aisles until I found Bu perusing the back wall that was dedicated to yarn and thread. There were a million different kind of threads and yarns and I was fascinated.

"Some have special properties. The thread I'm looking for is expensive because it has iron wire for durability and a chakra coating to make it easy to clean." Bu explained as I lifted up five versions of a single color of thread. I oohed and put the threads back in place. Bu found the thread he was looking for and paid. The shopkeeper was very familiar with him and teased him.

"This isn't a very exciting date place, Obu-chan." the older man teased him, "Go get dango or something!"

"It's not a date." huffed Bu as we were leaving.

I snickered, "I mean I'm clearly the man in this relationship so I should be leading us."

"Pfft. You wish." Bu laughed, "I'm just a jack of all trades."

"Sure you are."

We returned to his house and found Onna left a note saying she was meeting with a friend. Bu rolled his eyes and groaned when he saw the note.

"She's out with her new boyfriend." Bu grumbled as we retreated to his room and Bu damn sure made that door was open this time.

Oh? Was there trouble in paradise? I bet Bu was threatened by this new boyfriend of his mother's. Now that I think about it, what about Bu's father? I looked around Bu's room for a picture of his father but couldn't find any. I found several of him and his mother but that was about it. Oh yeah, we also had to take our team photo soon. Kinoe was late in scheduling us because he wanted us to be in our all season gear instead of our summer clothes. Or so he said. I bet he just procrastinated.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

Bu almost exploded, "He's awful! Terrible, absolutely terrible! He's charming and nice and handsome and strong!"

I blinked, "Aren't those good things...?"

"What if he's permanent!" Bu huffed, "I don't want him to be permanent!"

I wasn't really sure what to say. I wasn't exactly someone you went to for help in situations like these.

"Sorry," Bu apologized as he slid into his desk chair and started to embroider again. I took up a nice spot on his futon, "I just don't want him trying to barge in here and become part of our family."]

I hummed in acknowledgement but otherwise didn't say anything. Bu was quiet and focused as he worked on his embroidering and I stared around the room. Bu had an impressive collection of various crafting supplies as well as a metric fuckton of pictures with his mom.

I blinked.

Was that me in his photo collection?

I stood up and approached the photos and stared at one. I actually remembered this one now that I was staring at it. When Bu and I were younger our mothers took us to a festival. I recall Bu being dressed in a female yutaka and that was the first time Bu and I interacted without spitting and hissing at each other.

I must have laughed because Bu looked up and saw me over at his pictures. He flew out of the chair and I immediately turned to find the embarrassing picture he was going to try and hide from me. I spread my arms out and hunched over the pictures while Bu desperately tried to get around me. He reached past and grabbed a picture frame but it was too late. I had already seen it.

"Pft you look just like your mom with makeup on!"

"Shut up!"

The picture was Bu and his mom, Bu being about seven or eight, and Bu was wearing his mothers makeup. He clearly had put it on himself but for a child Bu had a steady hand. His winged eyeliner was pretty good but nowhere near as awesome as Onna's. It was pretty funny how Bu was a clone of his mother. But don't think I'm calling Bu feminine. Despite the fact he has pink hair and really nice eyelashes, he's not actually that feminine. His jawline is strong and his features too sharp to be feminine in the slightest.

Bu kicked me out soon after and I didn't complain. I spent some good time with Bu and I made my way home feeling pretty good about myself. I was inside the Uchiha compound when Kakashi landed beside me and fell into step. Kakashi beat the crap out of me at the last team practice with him because I didn't tell him about our mission. How rude, right? Can't believe he'd beat up such a cutie like me.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted me.

I wasn't as pleasant, "What do you want."

Not even a question. A statement. Kakashi doesn't deal with me if he doesn't have something he gains from it, so I try and hurry the process along. Talking to him too long is annoying anyway.

Kakashi hummed, "Such a mean way to say hello to your old shishou."

I snorted and Kakashi got on with his reason for coming, "Why do you treat your team as if they're the only people that can make you happy?"

I stopped as the question hit me. I looked at Kakashi and must have had a confused look on my face, because I was confused, because Kakashi elaborated for me.

"I noticed you only show your pleasant side to them. What do Obu, Kyuketsu and Kinoe have that others lack for you to act human around them?"

"Tch, get off my case." I huffed, "Maybe I like them."

"Then why don't you treat your brother like them? You do like Sasuke, don't you?" Kakashi retorted. I was silent after that and when we reached my house I spun to face Kakashi. I glared at him and stared into his single eye.

"You wouldn't understand, shishou. So don't even try to figure out how I feel." I told him. Kakashi merely raised his eyebrow and shrugged. Then he disappeared in a shunshin and I entered my house. Sasuke and I had a pleasant dinner that night and from then on, I evaluated how I treated Sasuke. You know what? I stopped treating Sasuke like Sasuke, and soon he was no longer Sasuke to me. He was Sasu, my dorky brother with glasses and not the avenger from another life.

Oh, I also realized something else.

What the fuck Kakashi, you stalker! First my fight with my brother, now apparently you're watching me interact with my team? Fucking Kakashi.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So I drew a portrait of Bu. It's on my deviantart (Also ShadowBloodNinja) if you're curious. I started Fushicho and want to do Kyuketsu and Kinoe after her.**

 **I really wanted to wrap up the Fushicho and Sasuke thing. I've been purposely ignoring Sasuke because Fushicho was starting to just figure him as "Sasuke the avenger" until last chapter and this chapter where she realized "Wait that's Sasu." This also previews Fushicho's thoughts on her team, as Kakashi has hinted at what he's seen before and it's starting Kinoe's feelings on things.**

 **Fun Fact \- Fushicho is an unreliable narrator. I try and hint as to what actually is happening but Fushicho states what she thinks. (Example, when she thought Sasuke died.) **

**Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **Thomas Drovin  
** **grifman275**


	16. Together We Are

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 16_

 _Together We Are_

* * *

A few days after my outing with Bu, I found out what he had been embroidering. It was a normal day where we were all training together at noon. For once, Kyuketsu hadn't woken me up like an asshole and I slept in. So I arrived late and found Kyuketsu teasing Bu. They immediately stopped when I showed up but Kyuketsu looked very smug.

I eyed the two of them but couldn't say anything because Kinoe suddenly shunshined beside me, yelling, "Good morning kiddos!"

"Don't yell in my ear!" I retorted shortly, nearly as loud. Kinoe simply grinned and put a large hand on my head. He put a good portion of his weight on me and I almost fell over.

Kyuketsu stepped back when Kinoe turned towards the boys. Bu was Kinoe's chosen target as he ruffled his hair and completely messed up Bu's ponytail. The good news is that Bu's braid is done so tight Kinoe doesn't usually ruin it like he does to Bu's ponytail. The bad news is Bu is a prissy little shit and whines when his ponytail is ruined.

Except today. Bu quietly fixed it while watching as Kinoe leered at Kyuketsu. Kyuketsu had no qualms against hiding behind Bu as a human meat shield when it came to Kinoe. Kyuketsu didn't try using me anymore because I gave him up faster than Bu since they were starting to grow taller than me and hiding behind someone your size was better than someone smaller than you. I was also meaner than Bu and gave not a single fuck. If Kinoe wanted whoever hid behind me then Kinoe could have them.

"Hey guys." Bu quietly tried to get our attention, and it worked. Because Bu wasn't someone who was usually quiet.

Kinoe hummed and turned his focus on Bu, "Yes Pinky?"

Bu scowled but he pulled off the extra pouch on his belt today and pulled out four red cloths, "I made everyone something."

I immediately realized what it was but Kyuketsu and Kinoe were surprised as Bu opened one cloth and revealed it was a bandana with Team Four embroidered neatly with all our names below it. Bu tied his around his neck and handed us each a specific bandana. As I tied mine around my neck I realized each had kanji on the opposite side of our names and team. Mine was the kanji that would makeup my name if I didn't spell it in hiragana. So, mine labeled me as a phoenix.

Bu's bandana had three kanji which labeled him as explosive. I watched Kyuketsu tie his around the bottom half of his face. He now effectively covered most of his face between his cloak's hood, his goggles, and his bandana. Kyuketsu's kanji proclaimed him as an arachnid. Kinoe tied his around his bicep and his read off as strength and wisdom. I mean, I guess that was kind of accurate. He was our sensei after all, he should be strong and wise. Even though he's a fucking moron sometimes.

"Why arachnid?" I questioned as I eyed Kyuketsu's bandana. As Kyuketsu spoke you couldn't even see the bandana move.

Kyuketsu answered instead of Bu, "Bu inquired as to what would be the most appropriate name other than 'bug' for my colony."

Right, sometimes I forget Kyuketsu is an Aburame. Kyuketsu never used his bugs when around us. He claimed he had no control over them and that they were dangerous. Of course Kyuketsu seemed like the most controlled dude ever but I suppose Kyuketsu wasn't the perfect ninja like he sometimes appeared. Fun fact. Kyuketsu usually used his stupid bow and he was actually a really, really good shot with it. Clearly a lot of effort had gone into his training with it.

"This was a really nice gesture, Pinky! I think we can even take our team photo now that we have matching accessories!" Kinoe exclaimed. Bu looked like he couldn't tell if Kinoe was being genuine or if he was teasing him. I couldn't really tell either, to be honest.

Bu looked away, a bit embarrassed, "When we were on our C rank I saw the fabric and bought it. It's durable and can be mended with chakra. The thread I used it also likely to not break."

"Sounds expensive." Kyuketsu commented immediately and tonelessly.

Kinoe grinned, "You should have made Hime pay for it! She's rich, after all."

I rolled my eyes at him. Bu blinked, "You're rich?"

I shrugged, "Technically, Sasu and I have to fight over who's clan head as soon as we're sixteen or we have more than the two of us in the clan. So whoever wins that is the rich one."

"But until then Hime and her brother both share the great finances that were left to them by the entire clan." Kinoe announced rather cheerfully.

"So she should be paying for team meals then." concluded Kyuketsu. Kinoe's grin doubled in size.

I blanched, "Uh, no? I'm not paying for you freeloaders!"

Kinoe snickered at my misfortune. It occurred to me later that he had planned this since he got stuck with the team bills and wanted to shift payments over to me. And the asshole's plan actually worked too but more on that later. We got our team photo done that afternoon as if Kinoe knew that we would be getting those bandanas. It was a nice photo and I put it beside my bed so that when I woke up I could see the smiling faces of my team staring at me.

Similarly, the next time we had to retrieve Bu when he overslept his picture was in the same place. As Kyuketsu dumped water on Bu I examined it with a fond smile. I was in the middle with my arms crossed and something that looked more like a smirk than a smile on my face while Kyuketsu was looking at the camera like he hadn't slept in days. Despite his dazed expression he had a ghost of a smile across his lips. On my other side Bu was grinning and posing. Kinoe was behind us with the biggest grin across his face. As usual he forgot to take off his doctor's coat before leaving the hospital so he just threw his jonin vest on over it. Kinoe had a pencil dangling from the side of his lips and he was actually the one who made the picture as great as it was. Why? Because Kinoe had grabbed his 'cute little genin' and pulled us into what looked like a hug. Really he was just squashing us all together. Maybe that was why Kyuketsu was as dazed as he was?

.

Almost a year after being on my genin team is when the nightmares began. They started off as night terrors that I couldn't remember but they would wake me up with a chill going through my body and the hairs raising on my arms. They slowly escalated until every morning I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept at all.

The first morning I woke up screaming, Sasu was there yelling at me to wake up. As I panted and sat up, Sasu was sitting on the edge of my bed looking relieved I had woken up.

"You sounded like you were dying." Sasu informed me as I sipped the water I kept beside my bed at night to calm myself.

I nodded, "I was."

My nightmares were real. For some reason my death replayed over and over with Fushicho taunting me. She offered me a way out every time yet even if I accepted her offer, I still died in the dream. That nightmare stayed with me for a few weeks until Fushicho and the flames were forced away by glowing red eyes on a man's silhouette.

Sasu's graduation crept up on me as I dealt with my own life and the nightmares. In fact, it didn't really hit me until a few days before when Sasu asked me to test and score him for practice.

I almost spit out my breakfast, "You're graduating already?"

Sasu rolled his eyes, "You forgot?"

I mean, he shouldn't be surprised. I forgot our birthday this year too and it wasn't until Bu told me happy birthday I realized that it was in fact our birthday. If you're wondering I got some neat presents. Kinoe got me a tanto that I was trying my damn hardest with but it just wasn't happening, Bu gave me a metric fuckton of explosive trinkets, and Kyuketsu gave me a cookbook called 'For Idiots: How to Cook Nutritious Meals'. Sasu and I pretty much got each other the same stuff we always did: supplies. I had to hurry and get my present for him on our birthday because I forgot it was our birthday.

Anyway, back to me almost choking to stop myself from doing a spit take with my breakfast, "No! I just... didn't think it was so soon."

Sasu rolled his eyes again but I did give him a practice test.

Sasu was definitely the top of his year with his jutsu being above genin level and his combat skills unparalleled by any other genin. Of course Naruto could give him a run for his money due to the fact you could hit Naruto as many times as you wanted and he still wouldn't go down.

I gave Sasu a hard time despite him being really good and the days before the test he practiced so hard because he thought he sucked more than he actually did. I laughed when he came home fuming because he was rookie of the year and far better than he thought.

"I can't believe you." Sasu sighed at dinner that night.

I hummed, "What did I do?"

"You set me up to be rookie of the year. Making me train like that for the graduation exam." Sasu explained as if I knew I had done that.

I mean, that wasn't my intention. I did it for the laughs but whatever floats his boat I guess. He would have been rookie of the year regardless.

After Sasu's graduation the nightmares stayed at a standstill. I only woke up screaming every so often depending on if I won or the shadows won. One Sunday at dinner with Bu and Onna, Sasu groused about his team and I quietly stuffed my face. Bu watched with narrowed eyes until his mother lightly smacked him and hissed, "It's rude to stare when a lady is eating!"

Bu rubbed his head and huffed before speaking to me, "You have bags under your eyes."

That earned him a harder slap upside the head and another hissed reprimand that Sasu even heard this time. This one remarked on how you never commented on a negative aspect of a lady's appearance, especially in front of others.

Bu wasn't deterred though, "It looks like you haven't slept in days!"

"She's been having-" Sasu began and I slapped a hand over his mouth. I shook my head at him.

"Having what?" Onna was the one to ask. While Bu was looking at me with narrowed eyes, Onna looked more amused by what was going on. Both were clearly concerned though, despite showing it differently. Bu was actively worried while Onna's body language only hinted she was concerned.

Sasu bit my hand and pushed it away, "Nightmares."

"Nothing important." I dismissed easily, "I sleep even if I look that bad."

I refused to say anything else and the following day, Kyuketsu was on my ass about it. Bu looked extremely pleased as I wanted to die. Kyuketsu doesn't shut up when it comes to health and good habits and he was determined to get me to sleep without nightmares again. This filled my days until the day Kinoe brought us to get another C rank that took us outside the village.

"I'm going to kill him." I promised Kinoe as Kyuketsu furiously flipped through a book on sleep habits. Every so often Kyuketsu would glance at me and then back at the book and every glance towards me made me want to kill him even more.

Kinoe only laughed until we were called into the mission briefing room.

Inside the Hokage was flipping through papers and scrolls without looking at us. Pestering him at the desk was the one and only Naruto. Kinoe lost all color and Bu and I both snickered when we noticed his white face. Kinoe's fear of Naruto was a fun point for the entire team. Except the man in question, of course.

"Team Four, looking for a C rank?" the Hokage questioned, looking up and doing a hell of a job at completely ignoring Naruto. It was like Naruto didn't even exist at this point.

Kinoe nodded cheerfully but far too quickly to be normal, "Preferably one out of the village. My cute little genin are stir crazy."

"More like you're stir crazy." Bu whispered to me and I grinned.

Kinoe glared at us and I returned the look with the sweetest smile I could muster. The Hokage cleared his throat and we all looked forward at him. Right, no team shenanigans in front of the military leader.

"I have a mission to Wave guarding a bridge builder. He'll be in shortly." the Hokage informed us as he held out the scroll for Kinoe to retrieve.

The room was quiet enough where everyone could hear the sounds of Kinoe and I cracking our necks as we sharply looked at each other. It couldn't have been more obvious that something was silently passing between us.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow as I also paled, surpassing even Kinoe's fear of Naruto, "Is there a problem, Fushicho-chan?" the Hokage, in what I could only call a devious smirk, added, "Uzumaki-kun?"

The Hokage doesn't call Kinoe Uzumaki-kun. He calls him Kinoe-kun. I was too horrified about the mission we got to laugh as Kinoe almost fainted.

"Uzumaki?" Naruto repeated as his face scrunched up, "Like me?" Is that rubber burning I smell? Naruto is thinking pretty hard about this.

Naruto scrutinized Kinoe and I found my courage to address the Hokage, "Nothing is wrong, Hokage-sama. We just had a bet on our mission and we're surprised I won."

The Hokage's eyes were twinkling as he watched Naruto approached Kinoe. Kinoe looked at me and the boys for help but we only stepped back. In fact, I made things worse for Kinoe. But that's what I do, isn't it?

Naruto looked at me, "Fushicho, what does he mean Uzumaki?"

Kinoe begged me with his eyes, his soul was absolutely screaming 'DON'T DO IT PLEASE' but I did it anyway, "That is Uzumaki Kinoe. He's your uncle, in fact. We found out recently."

Naruto looked like he was going to cry. Kinoe was already crying. I leaned against Kyuketsu as I felt a bit faint. I mean, I'm clearly a genius because I managed to bullshit half that situation. But I was feeling very tense and that tension tripled when the door slid open and a very familiar bridge builder entered. He walked with heavy steps and sake dribbled from his lips as he took a chug of his bottle.

He eyed my team, "You sure these kids can do the job?"

"We have him. He's pretty strong." Bu answered when clearly neither me nor Kyuketsu were going to. He pointed at Kinoe, who might I add was still crying. Naruto was also crying but his were tears of joy while Kinoe was crying for every single reason one could cry.

Our client didn't look reassured but he accepted it and stood tall, "The name's Tazuna. I'm a master bridge builder and I need to get home safely and build an important bridge."

Kinoe looked like he didn't quite accept reality right now. But then again, I was also trying to forget this was happening. As soon as he confirmed he was Tazuna it was like my heart dropped to my feet and refused to leave. Kinoe eventually found himself again and got the scroll from the patient yet still smug Hokage. Kinoe left us after mumbling something to Naruto and telling us where to meet. Then he promptly substituted himself with a potted plant that likely came from the hallway and I felt his chakra book it out of here.

We split to get our things and I found Sasu before I left to let him know where I was going. I also instructed him to go find Naruto and give him Kinoe's address. When I get back Naruto should now go pester his newfound surviving uncle. Sasu was kind of confused but I was sure Naruto would tell him about how he "found his super cool uncle who is actually Fushicho's sensei!".

I don't think I'm being mean by doing this. Like, Kinoe looked like he was going to have a heart attack (And he is like, thirty. Can you have a heart attack at that age? Shit, Kinoe's a medic. There's no way he's going out from something like a heart attack) but I think I did something for the better. Kinoe could have just disappeared and avoided Naruto since you know, jonin. But why should he? Naruto has reached the point where Danzo can't really do much to separate him from Kinoe if Naruto chooses to interact with his uncle.

Besides, I'm already here. I say fuck the plot! Clearly the Hokage agreed with me anyway. The Hokage looked far more amused than anything else when we left despite the fact he reduced one of his jonin to tears.

Back to the real issue at hand: We stole the fucking Wave mission.

Kinoe met up with me on my way to the gate we were meeting at. He regained some of his color by now but he was still looking very under the weather. In fact, he didn't look like much of a jonin right now.

"What are we going to do?" he asked firmly, "My situation can wait until we get back."

Ah. I was actually impressed Kinoe managed to put the Naruto situation behind him and focus on the bigger problem. Of course, he couldn't put it behind him forever because as soon as we got back I was sure Naruto would be on top of him. In fact, I had pretty much made sure of that.

I shook my head, "I'm not sure. Why is this happening?"

Kinoe couldn't answer me.

We left through the south gate with Bu excitedly chattering to Tazuna and asking questions about Wave. Kyuketsu half listened and I didn't listen at all. Rather I waited for the inevitable to happen. It took three days to get to Wave if you walked with a civilian. It was early during the final day when we were almost to the coast that we ran into that mysterious puddle. Kinoe and I shared a look as we passed it.

Kyuketsu immediately stopped as we passed it and stared directly at the puddle. Bu, either taking the hint or sensing it himself, pulled him along and discreetly dropped what I identified, in horror, as a stink bomb.

I think the smell itself almost killed the unsuspecting Demon Brothers because it certainly made all of us gag. The one in the puddle wasn't very affected until he stepped out of the puddle. He almost keeled over immediately. His brother who came from the trees wasn't in the direct cloud of shit so he flew at us while disconnecting himself from his brother. Bu, Kyuketsu and I got the fuck out of the way (And out of the range of the stink cloud) while a single chakra chain sprouted from Kinoe's back. The brother hardly had time to realize what was going on before Kinoe had him hanging upside down and his arms pinned to his body.

His brother met a similar fate. In a matter of minutes both were tied to a tree and Kinoe turned to Tazuna, smiling brightly, "They're after you, aren't they?"

Kinoe wasn't holding back nothing.

Tazuna sputtered and Kinoe pointed towards the brothers, "They aren't regular bandits. Specifically, they're nukenin who specialize in assassinations. They have no reason to attack us as ninja on ninja, especially considering there was a jonin here. So, they're after you Tazuna-san." As if it would prove his point, Kinoe pulled a bingo book from his pouch and opened it up. He turned to let us see it and his finger marked the page that named the Demon Brothers. They had a list of missions and kills, but the thing I eyed was their associations. Momochi Zabuza and Hozuki Shinju. Who was Hozuki Shinju?

As I pondered why that name sent such a foreboding feeling through my body, we got the sob story from Tazuna and literally none of us were affected. Kinoe and I already heard it while Bu and Kyuketsu weren't particularly affected. Kyuketsu was a hardass and Bu was just weird.

"Does this mean we go back?" Bu questioned, Kyuketsu demurring immediately, "Yes."

Kinoe hummed, "Well we could go back. Or we could feel good about ourselves and help this poor country."

Kyuketsu looked at him blankly. Kinoe smiled back at him brightly.

I suggested, "We're probably going to run into their associates from the bingo book and we can probably bug the Hokage for a pay increase."

That changed Bu's mind and then Kyuketsu was outvoted three to one. Four if you counted Tazuna. So we continued onwards after leaving the brothers unconscious and with Kinoe signaling for the closest hunter-nin team. We reached the boat and that was a very peaceful trip where I was actually lulled into a peaceful sleep from the boat's rocking.

When I woke up the mist was heavy and I was a bit groggy. I took one of those naps where you slept for a weird increment of time, so I didn't sleep long enough to actually sleep but too long to just be a power nap. Bu waved at me when he noticed I was awake and Kyuketsu nodded. Kinoe shifted to sit next to me when he realized I was awake.

"We're docking in a few minutes." he whispered, pointing to the looming figure of the giant bridge. We were just passing below it and the way it came through the fog made it look absolutely menacing.

I nodded, and Kinoe continued, only this time he spoke in English, " _What are we going to do about those two_?"

" _It'll be easy to save them since you're here_." I admitted in much rougher English than Kinoe's.

Kinoe hummed, " _The other Samsaras are going to be a bit irritated, but anything involving you they'll understand_."

" _The other Samsaras can suck a dick_." I retorted. It's not like they were out here and about to engage in a high level fight. I didn't think it was going to be a risky fight but you never know. Kinoe went to say more but his muffled laugh caught Bu's attention and he moved up to where we were.

"Whatcha' laughing at?" Bu asked innocently.

Kinoe went to answer but the boatman hushed us as we started to dock. Tazuna thanked the boatman and soon we were walking towards our next fight. Well, really it was Kinoe's fight. I certainly wasn't going to fuck with Zabuza.

As we walked I kept my mind half on walking and half on sensing. I was the one to shout a warning when suddenly two new chakras were inside my range and closing in fast. We all ducked as a sword bigger than my entire body sliced through the air inches from our heads. Kyuketsu, Bu and I got into our triangle formation around Tazuna as Zabuza made his appearance on his sword. But then, I placed the second chakra as they shunshined beside Zabuza.

I dropped my kunai.

The woman on the sword was confused as she looked at our team and she barked out, "Who the fuck are-" until her eyes landed on me, "You!"

She tasted like perfume and pollution. She was beautiful with a pronounced jaw and piss colored eyes behind thin framed glasses. Several hitai-ate were worn on her person and her hair, while a bit longer than the last time I saw her, was still an off white and layered.

This was the woman who tried to kill me during the massacre.

"You take the jonin, Zabuza." she almost cooed as she pulled her own jagged sword off her back, "I have a bone to pick with the Uchiha brat."

Kinoe turned to me in alarm and the look on my face must have scared him because he turned cold. He turned to Zabuza and the woman and he warned, in a dark tone, "Leave now because if you take one more step against my team, I'll rip you to pieces."

"Try it!" the woman laughed and she disappeared with her chakra spread out among the atmosphere. I looked around wildly, trying to figure out where she was going to appear.

Zabuza didn't seem too concerned and pointed to Kinoe, "Your fight is with me."

Chakra chains sprouted from Kinoe's back and I could feel Shinju's chakra tense at their appearance. Zabuza didn't seem to really care as Kinoe sent several of them after him. Kinoe's limit seemed to be eight chakra chains at once. They were chakra intensive with little feedback for him so he could use about thirty before he cut himself off. While that seems like a lot it's actually not much if you keep having to dispel the chains for some reason.

But I can't really say much about Zabuza and Kinoe's fight because there was a sudden congregation of chakra beside me and I only had time to block before a kick sent me flying into the trees. Bu yelled my name but Shinju was already on top of me again. I activated my sharingan and rolled the fuck out of the way as Shinju's sword pierced the earth where I had been moments before.

Shinju tilted her head as she regarded me with a distasteful look, "Let's cut to the chase and let me kill you. I've been here far longer than you. I mean, I'd say nothing personal but it's completely personal."

"What the fuck?" was my eloquent response. She dashed forward and I got the fuck out of the way again. She was incredibly fast but nothing was too fast for my eyes to see.

Shinju smiled, "I want to be the only one of our kind here because I want to rule the world."

"You're crazy." I told her. She nodded and gleefully tried to cleave me in half but I was fleeing into the trees by the time her swing was off.

I dove between the trees and behind me I could hear her hacking through bushes. She was immediately on my heels and definitely catching up despite my attempts to confuse her with zigzags. I rose into the trees and poured my chakra into jumping and while this made us more even than on the ground she started catching up quickly.

I thought I was going to be caught until a voice, one not quite Fushicho's, whispered in my mind, 'Use kawarimi with a leaf above you.'

I didn't even stop to think if Fushicho was trying to fuck me up. I just did what the voice said and immediately Shinju stopped on the branch I had been on. She looked around and swore. I wasn't a master at suppressing my chakra because my thoughts on chakra were kind of leave it alone if you didn't need it. But she seemed to have no clue I was only a few feet above her.

It hit me a moment later. She wasn't a sensor so she had no idea where the fuck I was.

"Fucking Uchiha hacks!" suddenly screeched Shinju before there was an explosion beneath her feet.

Shinju wasn't harmed in the slightest and her sights were set on her attacker. Bu stood a few branches away and he was already moving into his next plan with more explosions wracking the area. I almost fell out of my tree as another one collapsed into mine. I dropped from my tree as Shinju passed beneath me and she must have seen my shadow because she attacked upwards. I parried her blade with my shitty little tanto Kinoe got me for my birthday that I was kind of learning how to use. I bounced off her with a kick and landed on a branch behind me.

"Fu! Use your Natural Fire Jutsu!" Bu called as he gassed the area with a stink bomb. Shinju immediately caught a whiff of it and her faced turn a bit green.

"What in the fuck _is_ that?" Shinju coughed as she missed a branch covering her nose when the smell hit her.

I really didn't want to but I had no choice. Rather than my usual Natural Fire Jutsu I tried something new because I was kind of desperate. I never tried to breath fire before but today was the day I tried.

I let my anger towards this woman fuel me.

The smoke came out my nose and the fire came out my mouth. As soon as the fire actually came out my senses screamed at me. The flames sent alerts throughout my entire body as I remembered how it felt to burn to death. But I steeled myself and forced the fires to reach far. When my fire hit Bu's stink cloud, we realized Bu used something flammable in his recipe because it lit up and kind of exploded. It startled me into swallowing some fire and choking. I fell backwards off my branch, screaming in fear as the fire reached for me, and Bu caught me as he was booking it out of there.

Shinju was still alive as we got out of there because I could feel her chakra spike up in pure anger. But Bu got us out of her range and we were lucky in that the way we ran was towards where Kyuketsu was guarding Tazuna. Bu put me down when we got there and I was the one who asked Kyuketsu, "Where's sensei?"

Kyuketsu pointed towards the lake and in that moment I was never more disappointed in Kinoe in my second life. Kinoe looked very, very ashamed of himself as he was trapped in a water prison. Zabuza couldn't drown him because Kinoe was a medic and water natured so he was very easily able to sustain himself in water for a period of time. He couldn't make himself a mermaid but he wouldn't need air for a few minutes so we had time to figure out what to do.

Oh, and a Zabuza clone was looking at us expectantly and mockingly.

"Kyuketsu, do you have any ideas?" I questioned.

Kyuketsu shook his head. I looked at Bu who also shook his head. I stared at the Zabuza clone and the clone stared right back at me.

"Okay. How about I guard Tazuna while Kyuketsu takes care of the clone and Bu goes for sensei?" I asked.

Bu grinned, "Fine by me!"

He looked to Kyuketsu and Kyuketsu sighed but took three arrows from his quiver and nodded to me. Then both sprinted off and like they knew each other's moves (They totally didn't. They just can't sync their fighting styles) Kyuketsu took the clone head on before sliding beneath its cleaver and trying to slap an explosive tag onto its leg. This didn't work but Bu tossing a bomb at him was a great distraction as Kyuketsu suddenly split into several chakras.

I almost fell over as I felt his bugs leave him. It was so weird as a few dozen pieces of Kyuketsu's chakra started to sprint from him onto the Zabuxa clone. When my nausea from the feeling passed I witnessed as several dozen black and red spiders destroyed the Zabuza water clone. Kyuketsu was laying on the floor dead to the world as the spiders did their work. They returned to him and Kyuketsu made a noise that resembled a groan and a "Fuuuuck".

Meanwhile, Bu did his job effectively with several stink bombs, real bombs and fakes. Honestly, Bu just threw everything he had at Zabuza and Zabuza really had no other choice than to leave the water prison and get the fuck out of the way.

I shouldn't have been paying this much attention to my teammates fights because it was Tazuna who alerted me to the sword aimed for my neck. I took Tazuna to the ground with me as Shinju, who was looking like a singed Sim that just survived being set on fire, sailed over me. She was fueled by anger as her chakra lashed out at me and made me feel like I was drowning. Of course drowning didn't scare me nearly as much as burning did.

While I yet again played get the fuck out of the way with Shinju, Kinoe and Bu managed to capture Zabuza with Kinoe's chains. Shinju didn't really care about her partner's capture as she tried her damn hardest to fuck me up. I didn't know whether to cry in relief or cut off Shinju's head when a senbon planted itself in the side of her neck and she went down. Another needle targeted Zabuza's neck and Kinoe dropped Zabuza's fake dead ass on the ground.

Haku appeared beside me and I almost stabbed him on reflex. But I stopped myself and merely sighed and put away my crappy little tanto.

"Oh good. A Hunter-nin. I'm ready for a nap." Kinoe announced before he promptly collapsed onto Bu. Bu made a noise resembling a scream mixed with a choke as Kinoe's dead weight pulled Bu with him.

I looked at my three teammates before I looked at Haku, "Fucking idiots."

Haku didn't even laugh. He had his professional attitude up.

"Thank you for allowing me to get the kill on these nukenin. I've been hunting them for awhile." Haku bowed his head to me as he lifted Shinju onto his shoulder. He approached Zabuza and disappeared with both unconscious enemies. I walked over to Kyuketsu as Bu pulled himself out from beneath Kinoe. Kyuketsu opened his eyes when my shadow fell over him.

"Spiders?" I questioned.

Kyuketsu ignored me, "I won't be able to move for awhile. Controlling them takes all my chakra."

"I have to carry you then." I sighed and looked over to Tazuna, "Can you help Bu with sensei?"

That was how Tazuna's daugher found us. Disgruntled and me carrying Kyuketsu in a piggyback while Bu and Tazuna were kind of dragging Kinoe along. Gosh, why couldn't I be carried all this way?

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Extra long chapter and extra update this month for the holidays! (:**

 **So I changed the rating to M and I changed the genres from angst/suspense to drama/humor. I feel this is appropriate. I try and put some laugh material in with Fushicho's rambling and descriptions. And drama might get changed to suspense or angst again. Not sure. Let me know what you think. The rating changed because I feel safer and more free on M. There won't be any smut so no worries there. _If_ there's any romance I might heavily imply from there but thats about it.**

 **I prefer using shunshin over body flicker, but kawarimi looks really weird in comparison to substitute. I'll probably use the latter interchangeably. I really want to use honorifics and Japanese name for jutsu. But I keep trying to remember who uses what honorific and who just says fuck it and I made a list.**

 **Can Kinoe just be Professor Kukui from Pokemon Sun and Moon? Please? I will absolutely make him wear his vest open and no shirt under his doctor's coat.**

 **Fun Fact \- My cat has a Santa hat, a Christmas sweater and a Christmas collar with like seven bells on it. She looks so adorable in them. Except her fur looks silly in the sweater because she's so skinny with the sweater then all of us a sudden all her floof spills out. **

**Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **RimK10  
lizyeh2000  
Thomas Drovin  
grifman275**


	17. Alley Oops

**_Out of the Ashes_**

 _Chapter 17_

 _Alley Oops_

* * *

After we got to Tsunami's house and she let us in we dumped Kyuketsu and Kinoe in one of the rooms they were giving us for the duration of our stay. Then Bu and I, as the only fully conscious members of the team, got down to business. We sat at the dining table with Tsunami and Tazuna and while Tsunami tried to stuff us with the little food they had, Bu and I brainstormed. The conversation started out pleasant before Bu and I had to break the bad news to Tazuna.

"That's not how hunter-nin work." Bu explained to Tazuna with a grave face as we mentioned Zabuza and Shinju were probably going to come back and fuck us up, "They don't take the bodies. They destroy them."

Tazuna looked between Bu and I and sighed, "We must continue work on the bridge. When your sensei wakes up then I'll discuss things with him."

And I kind of agreed. I looked at the meager feast Tsunami had tried to celebrate our arrival with. Their household was a higher class in Wave so they had more food than some of the poorer people we would surely come to see. Tsunami had a good amount of rice she was rationing and some vegetables and fish they had drying to preserve. These well off people were starting to struggle and that meant people in town were probably dying of starvation.

"Sensei should be fine when he wakes up." I said, kind of brightly, "His bloodline is known for high vitality."

"Really?" Bu asked as he made sure to finish the rice Tsunami had given him as extra, "I thought those chakra chains were his Kekkei-Genkai."

"The Uzumakis were a very talented clan." I shrugged and the conversation ended. After a dinner that was kind of depressing from the lack of basic meats and spices (I had to try my hardest not to gag through the meal. My burned taste buds needed the strong spices!) Bu and I sat outside on the porch. We didn't want to wake up our teammates and the night air felt great. Tsunami's house had a special air about it that made the night feel tranquil. There was the sound of the crickets chirping and the smell of saltwater permeated the air for probably half a kilometer inland. It wasn't a terrible smell. In fact, it smelled fresh and delightful.

As we sat off the edge of the porch, Bu looked up at the sky then at me, "Kind of reminds me of our last C rank mission."

I hummed, "I guess so. We should probably take turns keeping watch tonight."

Bu agreed. But we both stayed up staring at the sky and letting our bodies soak in the cool night air. Eventually Bu stood up and cracked his back. He stretched out his arms and told me he'd take the shittier watch before heading inside to sleep before I woke him up in a couple of hours. The shitty watch was always the middle one. In this case since it was the two of us, the shitty watch would be second watch since that would require waking up beyond early. It was easier to take first watch since you could fall asleep right after it. The real shitty watch would be any watch not first or last since you had to be woken up and then sleep again.

I meditated and let my chakra sense be my watch. If I tasted anything threatening or unusual then I would go wake up Bu and we would try and take care of it. Note the word try.

Fushicho leered at me from the darkness. Only her eyes were visible in my imagination. Both glowed red, "You're pathetic."

I ignored her. She cackled when she realized that I could not only fully hear her, but also see her. She knew I was aware.

"You know I'm right Veronica. You couldn't get a shot in at Shinju. That entire time you just got smacked around." Fushicho giggled, "Want to feel it?"

As if Fushicho had prodded my arms I could feel the soreness in my bones. I blocked Shinju's kicks purely from instinct and trained body memory but my arms took a beating. If I wasn't a clan born child I could have ended up with both my arms broken from her kick. Chakra enhanced blocks against chakra enhanced kicks cancel things out and they just become a blocked kick. If I hadn't been born an Uchiha my chakra control wouldn't be good enough to enhance my body without a thought towards it.

I felt bad for civilians. No wonder Sakura went the medic way, she could heal any damage taken to herself. Her perfect chakra control not only let her enhance her abilities to the point of being able to shatter the earth but also let her body survive that. There were levels of enhancement, you see. Jonin's bodies are almost always in a state of enhancing themselves with chakra. Their chakra jumps, their chakra dashes, their blocks, their accuracy, their punches, their kicks. Jonin can handle fights against each other without immediately being shut down because their bodies can handle being thrown through trees, creating impact craters, and other extreme conditions.

Bu, Kyuketsu and I were ahead of civilians because our bodies were born knowing what to expect. My body was ahead of both of the boys from me being the child of the head of the Uchiha clan. Before I even knew what chakra was and how to control it, it could protect me. Momma could have tossed me onto the floor as a baby and I would only be bruised instead of dead. Kyuketsu was next in terms of his ability to tank. He had the automatic defense like me, but his chakra was slower. He had to actually realize a kick was coming and mentally prepare for it. Bu was only a third generation shinobi, assuming his father was a civilian. His mother and his mother's parents were shinobi. Bu had to train, and no doubt this was the first thing Onna ever trained him in, to learn how to protect himself. But compared to a first generation shinobi, Bu had easy training.

Long story short, there's a reason the fights in Naruto are drawn out. Our bodies can naturally defend themselves if you're an equal strength opponent. That's why there's genjutsu and ninjutsu. That's why there's weapons. Without that shit it would be impossible to fight an older and larger opponent. It's also why speed is very important. Sometimes you can be faster than someone's chakra. If you catch them off guard then you can score an awesome hit on them. So, Lee pretty much could beat my ass into the ground without his weights.

That's why the sharingan is awesome. It picks up on threats and directs my defensive chakra as if it had a mind of its own. That's why in the beginning Sasuke is a great match for Naruto. Both of them can shrug off hits because Naruto has Kurama and Sasuke, when he gets his sharingan, will have an easier defense. The two can go at it and shrug off power hits from each other.

"More bullshit for you." giggled Fushicho, "Won't you use your natural strength?"

I glowered at her within my mind's eye, "I am. But not in the way you want me to."

" _I_ want you to burn the plot to the ground." Fushicho cackled quite gleefully.

I rolled my eyes and focused on sweeping the area with my senses. Fushicho finished cackling and whispered, "Although, looking at where you are now... the plot is already starting to go up in smoke."

I pulled myself back to reality as I felt Kinoe's chakra approach from inside. He slid open the door and stepped out quietly. He took a seat next to me and let his legs hang over the side of the porch. When we got to Tsunami's we ended up taking Kinoe's jonin vest off and his lab coat, leaving him in a tshirt that I was willing to bet he wore as pajamas.

"Hey there, Hime." Kinoe greeted me quietly but lowly.

I nodded to him, "Yo."

"What's our battle plan?" Kinoe wondered without mentioning how he felt after falling unconscious, "Do you want to do that meeting in the woods?"

"I'm not exactly friendly." I retorted, knowing he was talking about Haku. Kinoe chuckled and agreed. I was most certainly not friendly.

"I'm going to leave Bu here to guard when it comes time. He can take the thugs easily and hopefully spark fighting spirit." Kinoe said. We both looked up at the sky and Kinoe reached over and ruffled my hair. He grinned when I gave him an irritated look.

"We're going to try and keep them alive." Kinoe told me brightly.

I nodded, "What effects could that have?"

Kinoe shrugged, "Whatever they are, we're going to suffer from the unknown regardless. The future we are sure of is changing and we'll be just ordinary people again."

"We'll never be ordinary. Not when we know who the villain is." I huffed. I looked off into the woods and swept the area again with my chakra.

Kinoe agreed somberly, "We'll never be completely normal."

Kinoe offered to take watch for me and I shook my head, "Go rest. You passed out earlier."

"Who's the doctor here, Hime?" Kinoe asked me playfully. I rolled my eyes but he did end up going back inside to sleep after bidding me a goodnight. When my eyes started to close on their own and my chakra was starting to drag from scanning the area I decided it was time to switch with Bu. I didn't count the hours but I had spent quite a few on watch. I crept through the house quietly and opened the room Bu and I were sharing for now. We left Kyuketsu and Kinoe in another room so they could rest without us disturbing them.

When I entered the room I blinked in surprise to find Kyuketsu resting easily against the window. I hadn't seen him in pajamas before so it was odd when Kyuketsu turned from peering out the window and faced me head on. Kyuketsu was actually growing up to be rather handsome. His eyes were narrow with a very soft shape to them. They were different from Bu's almond shaped eyes with thick eyelashes that, in certain light, looked like a very deep magenta. Kyuketsu's eyes were almost pure black in the darkness but the warm tones that always looked brown through his tinted goggles were still the red I saw that day in Bu's house. Kyuketsu had a beauty mark by his right eye and without his goggles and hood his curly hair seemed to levitate just above his eyes.

Kyuketsu wore a onesie, by the way.

I stifled a giggle and Kyuketsu, seemingly knowing what I was laughing at, rolled his eyes and quietly, so to not disturb Bu, murmured, "This is a battle suit."

"Yeah. Okay." I snorted. I approached Kyuketsu and did a sweep with my chakra to make sure nothing was trying to creep up while I switched with Bu.

Speaking of Bu, he was hugging his pillow tightly and wrapping his legs around it. Bu was clearly a cuddler and he was still a very deep sleeper.

I woke up Bu by lightly pushing him with the ball of my foot. Bu's eyes opened quickly and he scanned the room before relaxing and sitting up. He saw it was me. Bu pulled on his gear and told me to sleep tight and not to worry while he was on watch. Kyuketsu scared the life out of him by telling him, with a completely straight face, that he would worry while Bu was on watch.

"When did he get in here?" Bu gasped with a high pitch in his voice as he jumped out of the door. I had to give him credit, he landed completely silently despite his surprised jump.

Kyuketsu shrugged. Bu left for watch and I took my bedroll out of my pack before rolling it out at the end of Bu's. As I tossed my gear next to my spot Kyuketsu watched me from the corner of his eye. It wasn't until after I was snuggling into my bedroll did Kyuketsu speak again.

"Thank you for carrying me."

I smirked, "I could have dragged you. You're welcome though that I didn't."

I fell asleep watching Kyuketsu stare out the window with moonlight illuminating his deep crimson eyes.

.

The morning came faster than I wanted. I woke up in cold sweat as a pair of red eyes chased me through my dreams and Fushicho sat to the side, watching with a sinister amusement. I had outran my shadows that night and woke up tired. Kyuketsu eyed me when I entered the kitchen where he was helping Tsunami prepare for breakfast. I was pretty sore but the more I moved the more my muscles loosened up.

"Wash your hands." Kyuketsu demanded of me when I went to steal some of the minced vegetables.

I frowned, "Health nut."

"Alive." Kyuketsu corrected for me, "You didn't sleep well."

I shrugged, "To be expected."

Kyuketsu tsked and mumbled something about him bringing the book he had been reading to find a solution to my nightmares. I washed my hands and then stole some of the vegetables I had been aiming for when I walked in. Bu straggled in after awhile and we all sat down for breakfast when Kinoe ambled in from outside. According to Bu, he fucked off somewhere earlier this morning.

During breakfast Kinoe and I tried to have a conversation of our own with our eyes, but that didn't work. So after breakfast Kinoe and I met up while Kyuketsu and Bu were getting ready to head to the bridge with Tazuna.

"So, try and keep them alive." murmured Kinoe, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah." I nodded.

Kinoe sighed, "I have a plan but first I need to know if you can use your sharingan for advanced genjutsu."

Yeaaaaah, no.

The look I gave him said everything. Kinoe shrugged, "I expected that response. Okay so that part isn't going to work since no one on our team is going to be able to genjutsu the hell out of Gato's men while also convincing Zabuza and Haku, at their stronghold, to give it up. Also, that woman. Shinju you said her name was? Yeah, she's going to be a problem."

"What's the next part then?" I demanded, bewildered that Kinoe even thought that plan could partially work.

Kinoe grinned, "We give parts to people. You can be Sasuke. Bu is Naruto. Kyuketsu is Sakura, but better. Clearly I'm Kakashi."

"I dunno, you're missing a sharingan." I said dryly. Kinoe thumped my head lightly.

The door swung open and Kinoe started to mess up my hair as Bu trooped out with a disgruntled Kyuketsu behind him. Kyuketsu forced something into my hands and I blinked at it in confusion. The thing he gave me was about the size of my hand with wrinkled orange-ish skin. It didn't look very appealing in all honestly. It kind of resembled some kind of fruit.

I nodded slowly, "Okay, I'll bite. What kind of fruit? And why?"

Kinoe was actually able to answer this, "Ah, you've been reading up on home remedies for nightmares, Kyu-Kyu?"

I looked at Kyuketsu in surprise and he turned his back to me, "It's daidai."

"Daidai?" I repeated, staring at it. Living in the elemental nations was kind of weird because everything was an Asian variant. In regards to the fruit that I had seen, we had strawberries, apricots, apples, peaches, pears, cherries and grapes. Then we have a fuck ton of things I had never heard of in my first life but Kinoe, who was apparently a seasoned traveler in the old world, explained they were Japanese. Daidai were apparently a Japanese fruit. There were also a lot of spices missing but the mixed Asian culture seemed to have a lot to make up for what I was deeply yearning for. Side note, I would probably murder someone for a pizza. Also they don't eat pork often which was making me want to kill for a nice pork chop with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and applesauce.

"The fruit of longevity. Typically they're not eaten, but some old wive's tales suggest they keep nightmares away if you eat them dried." Kinoe suggested, "Try it, Hime."

I made a fatal mistake and took a large chomp out of the dried daidai. I immediately started to choke as the overwhelming bitter taste took over even my burned sense of taste.

"What the fuck?" I spat through it as I forced it down.

Kinoe chuckled, "Daidai are very bitter but are used in medicine for the digestive system and as an expectorant." In other words, Kyuketsu gave me herbal medicine against my will. The little bugger tricked me.

I glared at Kyuketsu who wasn't bothered in the least by my genuine anger that he would give me such a thing. Kyuketsu stated, "The book states the bitter taste will wash away the bad spirits causing your nightmares."

"It washed away my goddamn taste buds! Where did you get this anyway?" I demanded as I shoved the rest of the daidai at Kinoe. Kinoe wrapped it in a cloth and stuffed it into my pack, much to my displeasure.

Kyuketsu pointed at Bu who sputtered, "I asked what he found in the book for your nightmares and well... there was that. I asked Tsunami-san and she had a bunch since these things don't go bad!"

I rolled my eyes at Bu and turned to Kinoe, "Enough of this. I appreciate that you guys care... I guess, but don't feed me bitter shit without, you know, warning me?"

Bu agreed and was very apologetic. Kyuketsu gave a short apology but was rather apathetic to the situation. I bet in his head he was already planning his next idea to get my nightmares to go away. As for Kinoe... he laughed all the way to the bridge about how my face was still puckered up.

.

The first day was absolutely boring at the bridge. I sat guard and got to watch Bu and Kyuketsu be enlisted by the workers to carry things. Kinoe went to the village to provide better medical care for sick peasants than the town's actual doctor could. The second day Kinoe brought us outside Tsunami's house and looked at our tree walking, then our water walking. He stuck us back on chakra running in which we still weren't perfect yet.

The third day is when things were set in motion. Kyuketsu woke me up at an ungodly hour and decided I absolutely had to come with him on a hell mission through the forest because he read about herbs that could potentially create a sleeping drug. Despite my protests Kyuketsu dragged me outside and this woke up Bu, who followed us after dragging his gear on. That was why we found ourselves stomping through the forest with the sun barely up one morning. There was a light fog that was starting to disperse because on especially damp mornings in Wave, it got really creepy from the fog that rolled in off the water. I imagine it's probably similar in Kiri, except Kiri probably literally always has mist and fog.

"We're looking for this." Kyuketsu suddenly announced as he shoved a book into my face. My only response was to passive-aggressively yawn at it while Bu muffled his snickers. Kyuketsu wasn't bothered by our clear lack of interest in his mission. I did look at the page though and we were looking for long, thin plants that looked kind of like green wheat. As we trooped through the forest the sun started to come up and eventually we came across the clearing Kyuketsu was apparently looking for.

Bu shrieked when several large spiders emerged from the trees and climbed into Kyuketsu's cloak, "Spiders!?"

"Don't you remember he's an Aburame?" was my response while Kyuketsu gave not a single fuck. Instead Kyuketsu knelt and started to lay herbs in a basket. Bu swiped Kyuketsu's book and started to look through it for other useful herbs, as Bu's feminine side was taking over and he was pretty interested in what herbs could do, and he started grabbing other plants.

"That's poisonous." Kyuketsu hardly even looked at him.

Bu yelped, "Gah!"

I looked over the herbs with distaste as I remembered the few kunoichi classes I attended in the academy. I was mostly excused for a lot of them as I made a deal with Kakashi I would be less of a little shit if he got me out of them. He warned me I would probably need to take remedial ones when I got older and had to learn seduction. I'll get out of that too when I make it there, don't you worry.

"Beautiful, aren't they?"

I jumped at the feminine voice next to me and I tasted the chakra to find it was Haku who had appeared. I mentally prepared myself to Naruto the fuck out of this. I casually observed the plants in front of us. They were... green. Some of them were colorful. Some of them had flowers, too.

I shrugged, "I guess? Not much of a plant person."

Haku nodded and knelt down to begin picking at the same herb Kyuketsu was gathering for his obsession with my nightmares.

"So what are these?" I inquired, picking up one of the herbs and twirling it in my finger. Haku watched through his eyelashes.

"This is valerian root. The variant that grows in wave is especially potent and do not grow flowers." Haku answered peacefully. I eyed the stalk and Haku yanked one out with the roots and showed it to me. I shrugged. Not really a plant person.

Haku suddenly laughed, "I appreciate you trying to show interest in the flora despite not being a, 'plant person'. Is it for your friends, over there?"

I looked over to where Bu was studying a reddish plant very intently. Kyuketsu leaned over to say something to him and Bu threw it on the floor, muttering something angrily. I chuckled and looked over to Haku. Haku looked at me with a distant look in his eyes.

"Fu! Can we leave? Stick-Up-My-Ass-san over here is making fun of me because I keep picking bad herbs!" Bu yelled. He jogged over and stopped in his tracks when he saw Haku sitting beside me. His jaw actually dropped and I swore I could see hearts in his eyes. But he shook himself out of it and rubbed the back of his head.

"Who's this?" he asked me while trying to brush off how uncool he had been.

I shrugged and Haku laughed, "My name is Haku. A pleasure to meet you."

"Fushicho. And this moron is Bu." I replied politely. Bu whined at being called a moron. Haku and I stared at each other for a moment and his eyes flickered from me to Bu for a second. The look in his eyes suddenly changed entirely.

"Fushicho-san, I would advise leaving Wave as soon as possible." Haku warned very lowly and very sweetly so that only I could hear, "Those with precious people may lose them here."

I gave a small smile and Bu stepped back warily when he saw it. He couldn't hear what Haku was saying but I leaned over as if I were picking a herb from the other side of Haku so he couldn't hear what I was going to say back.

I whispered, "The same threat stands for you, Hunter-nin-san."

Haku froze and his eyes darted to mine dangerously. I flashed my sharingan and Haku seemed to know not to start an immediate fight with me. Of course, that was just a neat decoy I had. I lifted the root I was grabbing for and held it in front of us easily, "Please try and leave. I understand those two are precious to you, Zabuza-san and Shinju-san, but sensei is a force to be reckoned with. Especially now that he knows who he's up against. If we fight again, I guarantee that someone will lose those precious to them."

I stood up and turned my back to Haku, hoping I had done enough and he wasn't about to stab me through my back. I held up the plant I ripped out and showed it to Bu, "This any good? Looks kinda nice..."

Bu snorted while eyeing Haku curiously, "That's poisonous. I did the same thing earlier."

I didn't discard the plant, instead I huffed, "Still pretty useful."

"Not for what I want it for." Bu retorted.

I heard Haku stand up behind me and I forced my body not to flinch when Haku put a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Then we will see whose precious people are lost, Fu-shi-cho-san." his breath tickled my ear like the wind. Then he gave a cheerful goodbye and bowed. I didn't turn to watch him go. Instead I felt the cold feeling of anxiety wash over me as my heart dropped to my feet. Something told me I just got a rival in Haku instead of an ally. I done fucked up, yes sir I did. How did I manage to make nice, calm Haku act like that? Man, I should have brought Naruto.

When Haku was gone, Bu immediately turned to me.

"That wasn't a woman." he stated first, as if it were the most important part of the entire exchange.

I shook my head, amused. Bu really should have been the Naruto in that situation. He even mistook Haku's gender.

"Not only that, but that was the hunter-nin, wasn't it?" Kyuketsu casually remarked as he strode up to us with his basket of herbs.

Bu made a scandalized noise, "What? I was going to say Fu looked like she was flirting with him but-but, that was the hunter-nin?!"

Bu and Kyuketsu both looked at me and I nodded.

"Same exact chakra. That was the hunter-nin."

Kyuketsu sighed, "We should inform sensei of this development."

And inform sensei we did. I gave Kinoe my super secret report and he sighed when I told him I probably made things worse. "Well, we'll just have to be super prepared." was Kinoe's tired response.

And prepare we fucking did.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Fushicho is not the most eloquent person ever. If you check my deviantart I put up a portrait of Fushicho! Kyuketsu is next (:**

 **I'm not too happy with this chapter but it's not the worst chapter I could have done. I wanted to add some world and character development.**

 **Oh and Happy New Year! Yay!**

 **Fun Fact : Bu gets super hype over a lot of things and likes learning. Fushicho also likes learning but tends to get pretty frustrated and bored quickly. Kyuketsu is Kyuketsu.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **Moonacre BunBun  
Thomas Drovin  
RimK10**


	18. The Great Bridge

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 18_

 _The Great Bridge_

* * *

Kinoe's activity in the following days was a bit odd for everyone except for me. He was constantly preparing and working on something. Bu and Kyuketsu knew we were stepping into a fight soon but the amount Kinoe was preparing seemed pretty overkill. But soon came the morning where as we approached the bridge there was a thick layer of mist that was drenched in chakra.

I tapped Kinoe's arm discreetly to let him know what I sensed and he scanned it quickly before nodding very slightly. He pretended to pat down his bags as if checking for something and he grunted, "That's embarrassing."

"What is?" Tazuna was the one to ask while Bu and Kyuketsu exchanged eye rolls.

Kinoe rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I forgot my weapon scrolls. I'll be fine without them, of course, but I'd like to be prepared. Bu, can you head back to the house and grab my scrolls for me?"

Bu's face lit up in joy before he smothered it to sound more professional in front of our client, "Yes!-I mean-uh, sure sensei." Bu thought guarding the bridge was the most boring thing in the world. Bu jogged off back towards the house and we approached the bridge. As we got closer Kyuketsu looked from the bridge to Kinoe with suspicious eyes. He didn't say anything though and as he went to look back towards the bridge our eyes briefly met. We both paused for a moment and Kyuketsu looked away first.

When we actually stepped onto the bridge we were met with a familiar sight to me. It was a massacre with the worker's bodies strewn about and Shinju waiting patiently in the middle of the bridge. Zabuza and Haku were nowhere to be seen but we made a triangle around Tazuna as we approached Shinju. Her clothes had fresh bloodstains on them and she swung her sword sharply. Blood flew off and splattered just at our feet and we stopped.

Shinju, with her sword held up as if she had it pressed to our throats, grinned, "Finally! I've been so bored waiting so I had some fun with the workers."

Tazuna was pale as he looked around. His eyes flickered between each body and his knees shook. I tried to remember what happened to the workers in the original manga and anime but it was blurry. Had they been killed, or simply knocked out? Kyuketsu held out an arm to steady Tazuna while Kinoe took the front spot to face Shinju.

"We don't have to fight." Kinoe said slowly, "We can just talk this out."

Shinju laughed, "Talk? _Talk_? TALK? Ha, hahaha, talk? You think you can just, take the easy way out of this? No! Nope! Someone is dying here and it's certainly not going to be my people."

Then she moved. But before Kinoe or I could move Kyuketsu burst forward out of formation. Kinoe and I both probably gaped as Kyuketsu made a few quick hand signs and bit his thumb before slamming it on the floor.

"Is that-" I was cut off as there was an explosion of smoke that almost knocked me over.

When the smoke thinned a large black figure stood in the middle. It was about the size of a horse but a lot wider considering Kyuketsu had just summoned a goddamn giant spider. Kyuketsu stood on top of the spider's large, gland? Is that a gland? An ass? It's body? I'm not exactly a spider person. In fact, I'd rather go burn that motherfucker to the ground and I'm terrified of fire.

Kyuketsu notched an arrow and shot it at Shinju who looked about as horrified as I did. But she dodged the arrow flawlessly and giggled as she jumped to the side. The spider charged and she sprinted towards the end of the bridge. The spider must have been a speed oriented summons though because it was right on her tail regardless of what she did to juke it. The last I saw of Kyuketsu and Shinju's fight was them climbing one of the cranes because I suddenly had several needles sticking out of my arm.

"Son of a fuck!" I shouted as I rolled away as more needles completely filled where I had been standing. There was an annoyed growl from Kinoe's side of Tazuna and I assumed Zabuza was out for revenge.

I focused on Haku though and rushed in the direction the senbon came from. However Haku was prepared for this and suddenly I found myself stumbling across a large ice patch. I flailed my arms and my chakra tried to grasp the ice.

Ice, apparently, was a lot different than water, trees, or any other surface, so I promptly landed hard on my back with a scream. I slid a couple feet and watched in horror as the ice mirrors built up around me. Haku stepped out of one and I slowly got to my feet. I looked around warily before focused back on Haku. His eyes were hard and focused as he stared down at me.

Finally, he said, "I'm sorry, Fushicho-san. It's selfish of me, but I must take your precious people to keep my own."

"You fuck!" I retorted very eloquently and Haku shook his head before stepping backwards into a mirror. I activated my sharingan and went through everything I could possibly do to not die in here. I didn't have Naruto to use demonic chakra to explode the mirrors like Sasuke had in the anime. What did I have? Well, Kinoe had prepared me for a few scenarios.

" _Hey, hey, Victoria_." Fushicho whispered in my mind, " _Use me. I can slaughter him like a pig._ "

I ignored her and pulled out my shitty little tanto to deflect senbon. Unfortunately, I would need to sacrifice some of myself for Kinoe's crazy plan to work. By crazy I mean if I die here it's entirely his fault.

The rain of senbon started abruptly and completely. I deflected the senbon that would hit somewhere important, as Kinoe gave me a crash course of "These are the areas you can't get hit in unless you want to fucking die" and let myself get hit in more minor areas. By the time my body started screaming at me I was a porcupine, but a surprisingly able bodied porcupine.

See Kinoe's plan was based off the fact Haku was a kind-hearted person who wouldn't kill you. This plan was based off the fact that if he was aiming to kill, then as I fell to the ground he would probably come out and end my suffering. See, this plan actually had a hole in it though. I was supposed to not get caught in the ice mirrors because of this hole. The hole being, what would I do once Haku came out to end my suffering? He'd of course know nothing fatal was hit but he would also know that I would be in pain because despite the fact I could move with these senbon sticking out of my muscles, these things hurt like a bitch. I had a high pain tolerance after you know, burning to death, but I still had a limit.

When my limit was hit I literally couldn't move my left arm anymore. A senbon to my knee had me collapse to one knee and then I fell to my side after ripping out the needles from the side I would fall on. When I hit the ground my body screamed in relief that it didn't have to work it's muscles anymore. And like Kinoe predicted Haku stepped out of the mirrors and approached me.

I eyed him as he towered over me.

See, this was where I was supposed to use a genjutsu to catch him off guard so I could knock him out or restrain him. But despite having these nice eyes I wasn't actually very good at genjutsu. Sure, Kinoe and Kakashi both taught me some minor ones. But people shrugged them off like it was nothing and Kakashi said it had something to do with my chakra being unbalanced and that I didn't have enough physical chakra to keep it feeling natural.

Haku knelt beside me and ran his thumb across my forehead, "Fushicho-san, you are in pain."

"No shit." I breathed.

Haku cast his eyes down my body and he looked conflicted. But he seemed to breathe in and steel himself for whatever he was prepared to do. His eyes were hard as he looked back at my face.

"Please, let me end your suffering." he almost begged.

"When you say it like that, it's almost like I have a choice." I barked out a laugh, "Haku-san, we both know neither of us are willing to roll over and die when our precious people are fighting outside."

Haku nodded in agreement before he opened my pouch and pulled out a kunai. Weakly I reached my hand up and wrapped my hand around his wrist. Haku shook my hand off and with speed he hadn't expected, I reached into my bag.

Did I say Kinoe was preparing like mad? Well, Bu didn't want to be left out. So they combined their knowledge. Did I mention how horrifying that concept is?

I dropped a ball and Haku didn't even have time to flicker away before his entire ice dome was filled with a pungent creation. See we put the daidai to good use as Bu realized that if you put enough bitter powder into one of his bombs, every single one of your senses becomes pretty much useless. Your eyes water, your nose burns, if you have your mouth opens you might puke and you'll definitely cough, and your ears are kind of fine. You don't really focus on hearing when the rest of you is screaming.

I started to pick senbon out of myself as Haku started to gag and I heard the vague sounds of puking. My eyes were mostly fine because I closed them after knowing what was coming. I still felt tears gathering though and my nose was probably snotting everywhere in its attempts to get the daidai dust out of it, but I was far better off than Haku. In fact after getting most of the senbon out of my body I pushed myself to my feet and I walked until I found the edge of the dome. I opened my eyes there and turned to find Haku was on all fours where I had last seen him.

I approached him and when he realized I was there, above him with my tanto out, he could only choke and try to move.

"I'll make sure no one dies here. I promise." I whispered, almost unconsciously, as I drove the handle of my tanto into the back of his skull and Haku fell to the ground. I made sure he was unconscious before I looked at the ice dome and wondered, how the fuck was I getting out of here now? I decided to just try and burn my way out since I wasn't squeezing through the tiny spaces between the mirrors. In the anime it looked like Naruto and Sasuke could just leave the ice dome. Well unless Haku thought I was a greater threat and he made the ice mirrors closer together, then the anime lied.

The ice melted beneath my hand as I reached into the air for my Natural Fire technique. As soon as I breached a small hole through cracks suddenly shot through all the mirrors and it shattered entirely. I observed the battlefield and I got out of the dome just in time to watch Shinju spartan kick Kyuketsu off the crane they had been fighting on top of. I screamed as he started to free fall but his spider shot out a web that caught him and swung him back up to the crane.

I put a hand to my heart as I sighed in relief and I looked to see how Kinoe's fight was going. It was going remarkably well where Kinoe had popped a chakra pill and had a few extra chains. I ran over to guard Tazuna in case Zabuza decided to take him out with him. As I knelt beside Tazuna he jumped. He eyed me strangely.

"Kid, you look like hell." he informed me. I shrugged at him. I kept my tanto in a guarded stance as I kept an eye on both fights. Eventually Kinoe managed to wrap a chain around Zabuza's leg and trip him into a waiting chain. Kinoe proceeded to knock him out and drop him beside Haku. Kinoe laughed when he saw me.

"You look like absolute shit." he smothered his laughter, "Your eyes are running, your nose is running, you have senbon holes everywhere."

"Gee thanks." I demurred. Kinoe eyed the crane where Kyuketsu was still fighting Shinju but he seemed to be on the losing side as we watched his spider unsummon itself to avoid Shinju cleaving it in half.

Kinoe launched himself to the crane and started to run up it with more chains sprouting out of his back. By the time Kinoe was up there assisting Kyuketsu there was a concerning noise at the end of the bridge. To be precise, the broken end of the bridge. Gato and his hired thugs appeared out of the mist like an army and I looked back hoping to see Bu and the town mob. As Gato and his men came closer I stepped forward. It looked like no mob wanted to come save us.

I was the last line of defense for Tazuna.

Gato regarded me and much to my pleasure he was a short pudgy man. As he got closer though I realized he was taller than me and damn it, that pissed me off. Gato looked around and after scanning the bridge his eyes landed on me.

"You're all that's left?" he asked, bored.

"I'm enough." I replied, readying my tanto.

Gato nodded to his men, "Kill her, then kill the bridge builder!"

The army charged at me and I tensed, ready to run into it. But a hand touched my shoulder and flung me backwards. I gasped as long brown hair tickled my nose and Haku dashed into the mob.

"Oh fuck no! I did not save your ass for this!" I screamed at his back and I ran after him. Haku was a monster to fight against if you were a civilian. The mob hardly stood a chance as ice captured any man who tried to hit him. Haku didn't kill a single one of them though, only disabled them for the fight. I followed behind and when Haku finally reached Gato, Gato ordered his men to stand down for a moment. I came to a stop just behind Haku.

"I thought you were dead, you good for nothing! Kill her and kill the bridge builder!" snarled Gato. Haku looked over his shoulder at me and I readied my tanto. Then I realized. His eyes were completely bloodshot and I had no idea if he could see me or not. In fact, I had no idea how any of his senses were. I had no idea what he was going to do. As Haku turned to face me Gato pointed the man beside him towards Haku's back.

Once again, I decided I did not give Haku mercy only for him to die right here.

So I pushed forward and Haku froze as he realized I was charging. I jumped over the ice spike I saw coming with my sharingan and I shoved Haku to the side as I parried the man's blade and swung my elbow upwards and broke his jaw. He stumbled back and I felt a back press against mine. My chakra sense told me it was Haku and from there we were about to have our epic showdown.

I say 'about to' because Bu finally showed up.

I was the one to see the small grenade roll towards our feet and I grabbed Haku's arm and yelled, "Get out of here!"

Haku's arm wrapped around mine and have I ever said that being pulled along with someone else's shunshin or kawarimi is the weirdest thing to feel ever? Well it is and Haku's shunshin felt incredibly awkward. It was probably the one hand seal thing but when I reoriented myself and found we were standing beside a very proud Bu, I promptly collapsed. Bu went to catch me but Haku was faster and managed to hold me up. I felt the tremor in his body though and held out an arm for Bu, who gave me a shoulder to lean on.

I only caught a glimpse of what Bu's grenade had done. I had given him the concept of a grenade and while it wasn't working perfectly yet, as the release time was very, very long, the mercenaries weren't as fast as ninja. The grenade exploded and from a distance we could smell the foul stink mixing with daidai dust.

"I hate you." I informed Bu tiredly.

Bu blanched, "I totally saved your asses!"

I scoffed, "Haku-san and I were about to have our epic final battle."

Haku chuckled at my response. Bu pushed us onto Tazuna as the mercenaries who weren't gagging and keeling over approached us. They looked pretty pissed off and Bu gave me a smile.

"I'll blow'em to hell, how's that for an epic final battle?" Bu asked me and Tazuna sat me and Haku on some crates as we watched Bu massacre the thugs. Bu couldn't go all out without completely wrecking the bridge but his close range combat wasn't atrocious. The thugs couldn't hit him with his explosive chakra dashes either. By the time Kinoe and Kyuketsu appeared with Shinju unconscious over Kinoe's shoulder all that remained were a few thugs and Gato himself. Kinoe placed Shinju next to Zabuza and joined the final confrontation where he slaughtered the few thugs Bu hadn't and proceeded to restrain Gato.

I found myself leaning against Haku as we watched Bu, Kyuketsu and Kinoe start to clean up the bodies and check for survivors among the workers. Tazuna left us to go search for the survivors when Kinoe informed him there were some survivors. Zabuza and Shinju were tied up and left where we could all see them since they would probably cause some trouble when they woke up.

"Fushicho-san." Haku began and I realized I was leaning on him so I sat up, "Thank you."

I snorted, "For what? I didn't do anything."

"You kept your promise." he replied before closing his eyes and leaning over onto me.

I gaped, "Wait, what did I promise? When did I promise anything?!"

Haku didn't answer. Instead he let a peaceful smile cross his lips and rested his head on top of mine.

"Haku?"

"Haku!?"

"Haku you fuck!"

.

I ended up blacking out at some point but later on Bu remarked quietly that, "You two looked so peaceful." That left me more confused until Kinoe helpfully pointed out that Haku and I both ended up leaning against each other when we both blacked out. I woke up in the "sick room" that we had initially put Kyuketsu and Kinoe in. My body ached so I didn't even bother moving and it wasn't until the door opened and Bu peered in that anyone knew I was awake.

"You're awake? How do you feel?" Bu asked as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. He came to kneel beside me and I went to shrug but winced.

I sighed, "My body feels like it's broken."

"Sensei said that you'll be fine with some rest and that he'll come by and heal you when his chakra replenishes." Bu explained, looking down at the blanket that covered my body. A few bloodstained bandages covered my arms where senbon had been but otherwise I was perfectly fine. He shivered when he saw the bloody bandages.

I wasn't sure what was under his skin regarding blood considering we had all seen our fair share of it, but I mentally shrugged it off, "How long have I been out?"

"Just a day. Haku-san was up before you." Bu answered.

I blinked, "Haku was brought back here?"

Bu choked, "Haku? Not Haku-san?"

"Oh. Whoops. Haku-san." I remedied. Bu sat back and laughed awkwardly.

"For a second I thought you maybe..." Bu smirked, "Liked him."

If I could get up I would have smacked him. What was with this boy and romance? He seemed to fall in love at first sight every time he saw a girl and was convinced that I would have to like someone. Why couldn't he do this to Kyuketsu too? I mean, looking at Kyuketsu the answer is pretty clear but...

"You moron. How could I like someone who I had been fighting to the death minutes before?" I retorted. Bu nodded and stared at the wall, heavy in thought. I closed my eyes and listened to Bu's breathing before I forced my chakra sense out and felt around the house. Tsunami, Inari and Tazuna were in the kitchen while I couldn't find Kinoe anywhere in the house. Kyuketsu was also gone but Haku was sitting outside on the porch. I didn't sense Zabuza or Shinju anywhere.

"Why is Haku-san with us? What happened to Zabuza-san and Shinju?" I questioned.

Bu looked towards my face, "They're helping build the bridge with Kyuketsu and Kinoe-sensei. Sensei was talking to them for a really long time and somehow convinced them."

I pulled myself up and my body screamed. Bu tried to get me to lay back down but I stood up and ripped off some of the more obnoxious bandages.

"No way am I being bedridden when that woman is around." I told him as I grabbed one of my shirts and pulled it on over my mesh under armor I had been left in.

"That's right." Bu realized slowly, "Didn't she say she had a bone to pick with you?"

I nodded and as Bu clearly waited for me to explain I shook my head, "Sorry, Bu. But that's not something I'm willing to share with you. Not yet."

Bu didn't manage to cover the wounded look on his face fast enough. But he plastered on a fake understanding smile and I left him by himself in the room despite feeling guilty I wouldn't tell him. I made my way out to the porch where Haku was watching the forest peacefully. I sat down beside him and he turned to smile at me.

"Good morning, Fushicho-san."

"Morning." I replied, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better. Your sensei healed me before he left earlier." Haku answered brightly. He asked me how I was and I relayed what I said to Bu, mostly anyway.

Haku hummed, "I'm glad we were able to both keep our precious people, Fushicho-san."

I agreed.

For the next few days Shinju and Zabuza stayed and helped with the bridge. This helped the building effort immensely and I was kept on bedrest by Kyuketsu, Kinoe, Bu and Haku. I couldn't even argue against four people forcing me to stay at Tsunami's. Tsunami tried her hardest to teach me how to cook while I was stuck there so everyone regretted their decision when they realized I was in charge of specifically their meals.

Haku tried to be polite the first time because he didn't have the foreknowledge to know my cooking is notoriously bad. Bu tried to power through the bad meal but ended up sick later in the night and Kyuketsu refused to even touch it, stating he would get food poisoning. Kinoe, with an iron stomach, inhaled both his and Kyuketsu's food.

Finally the day came when the bridge was finished. I hadn't been allowed to help even after I was completely healed. I got payback with cooking but still. It got really boring while we waited for that damn bridge to be finished. There was a small ceremony in the morning where all of us stood, although Shinju and Zabuza stayed off to the side. After the ceremony Shinju approached me rather cautiously.

"I hate you." she said with a pout, "I can't kill you today."

I blinked at her in confusion, but asked, "Why were you at the massacre?"

Shinju laughed, "Not even going to ask why I can't kill you today?"

I glared at her and Shinju coughed when she realized I wasn't phased at all by her oddness, "I wanted to make sure Sasuke died. You see, I have a life here now. Zabuza. Haku. I couldn't let them die, not knowing what we would be walking into. I figured we would be safe if I killed Sasuke. There would no longer be an avenging Uchiha, and besides, I hated his character. But I guess I'm glad you were here. You fought to keep them alive too, so I'll let you live this time."

I snorted, "And next time?"

"Next time," Shinju giggled, "I'm going to rip you to shreds. If I'm the only Samsara left in the world then I can rule it."

"That is faulty logic." I stated.

Shinju shrugged, "It's whats kept me going. Bye, Uchiha Fushicho."

She evaporated into mist. When we got back to Tsunami's we found Haku's stuff was all gone without a trace. We had expected it though and after a teary goodbye from a starstruck Inari and a grateful Tazuna and Tsunami, we were off. We got to be the first ones to travel across the great bridge and boy was it great. This bridge was fucking enormous.

"Excuse me."

We all paused and I felt a familiar chakra shunshin behind us. I turned to find Haku standing there. He bowed deeply to us and Bu, who had been the only one not to realize someone was behind us before the 'excuse me', twirled around and almost tripped.

"Thank you, Fushicho-san. I will not forget your kindness."

I choked, "Eh?" Bu started laughing behind me and he said, I assume, to Kyuketsu, "Fu? Kind? Pssh!"

Haku smiled warmly and approached me after coming out of his bow. When I felt lips meet my forehead I already knew my face was turning red and I started to sputter angrily as Haku stepped back. He tilted his head to the side.

"Take care."

And then he was gone.

"HAKU YOU FUCK!" I screamed and it echoed majestically as Bu sputtered behind me and Kinoe laughed hysterically. Kyuketsu merely sighed.

"Can we leave now?" Kyuketsu almost pleaded.

Bu, dazed and confused, agreed.

Kinoe chuckled, "Yes. We should get going. We have to finish crossing the FUSHICHO BRIDGE AFTER ALL."

I almost tripped, "They named the goddamn bridge after me!? Why!?"

"I guess you impressed more than just a cute guy on this mission, hime!" Kinoe laughed maniacally as he practically skipped down the bridge. I almost ripped my hair out in frustration before running after him with murderous intent. Following behind me was Kyuketsu at a jogging pace and Bu, when he realized he was being left behind, yelled and ran to catch up.

The Fushicho Bridge? What a shitty name.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Reviews give me life. I got a few that really made me so happy last chapter and I got this chapter done like three days after the last chapter!**

 **The Kyuketsu portrait is up too! Has anyone looked at their portraits? Kinoe is next!**

 **I really want to try and do updates every two-ish weeks, but I'm not sure how well I can keep that schedule.**

 **Fun Fact : Fushicho has yet to make her first kill. Sure she's fought to kill (Shinju, the gold-eyed man) but she has not yet killed.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing! (:**

 **ZEROdegree  
Tealac  
Thomas Drovin  
lizyeh2000  
Tamani**


	19. Domestic Girl

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 19_

 _Domestic Girl_

* * *

When we got back to the village Kinoe brought us all in to the hospital. Kyuketsu and Bu checked out fine and the medics, after clucking in disapproval at the small scars from senbon, let me leave. They told me scars that small could be removed but I didn't really care. They looked like freckles and you could hardly notice them if you weren't scrutinizing my entire goddamn body.

When I got home Sasu greeted me and told me in great detail all about what happened after I left. Sasu had no idea how I hadn't tried to kill Kakashi when he was my shishou because he was really annoying with always being late with dumb lies for excuses. He explained how Naruto was dumb and got them more and more D ranks from Kakashi and how Sakura was really annoying.

Right, Sakura exists.

I grinned, "Invite all of them over for dinner."

Sasu stilled as he caught my drift, "I know I said Sakura is annoying but I don't want her dead, sis."

I rolled my eyes and to make the invitation genuine, I added, "Would it make you feel better if I invited Bu and Onna? Onna can cook."

Sasu agreed. Onna _can_ cook. So it was settled. Sasu said he would bring his teammates over when I had confirmation that Onna wouldn't mind cooking for several preteens. So after dressing casually I left for Bu's house. As I walked through the village I rubbed my hands on my face and basked in the nice air. I kind of missed the cooler temperatures in Wave but I didn't mind the warm sunlight Konoha had.

Then I bumped into someone.

"Whoops. My bad." I held out to steady whoever I bumped into but as soon as my hand hit their shoulder it was like death itself had run into my body. I gasped and retracted it very quickly and focused on who I had run into. I felt the deadly chakra and knew who it was before I had looked. Soulless eyes landed on me and I could feel two chakras shift in panic as I looked back at Sabaku no Gaara himself.

Trying to play it casual I bowed slightly, "Yeah, my fault. I apologize."

Gaara looked me up and down slowly and rudely. Had we not been preteens I would have accused him of being a pervert but we were kids. Also this was fucking Gaara. I'm not ready for that life or death situation yet.

Wait just a minute.

Gaara?

Now?!

I inhaled deeply and asked, kind of meekly, "Are you here for the Chunin Exams?"

Temari nodded as she looked cautiously between Gaara and I, "Yes. We're here early though."

"Ah." I nodded, "Why so early?" Typically, the Chunin Exams were held twice a year around the equinoxes. I think it was because that was when the weather cooperated nicely but it was also probably for festival reasons. As of now we still had about a month and a half to go before the Chunin Exams and foreign teams usually didn't arrive until around two weeks before the exams.

"Politics little girl." Temari told me gruffly.

I gave her the stink eye but didn't say anything. I was, after all, dressed casually and in clothes that did not belong to any of the males I know. Shocking, right? My hitai-ate was nowhere to be found as I left it at home on my dresser. I wasn't supposed to have a confrontation like this one.

"Ah, well I must be going. Nice uh, meeting you?" I kind of sidled around Gaara and bowed to them again before speed walking down the road and turning a corner.

"Oh fuck." I whispered. So I took a detour to Kinoe's apartment. When he answered the door and saw me standing there he visibly wilted. Such a nice way to greet his favorite student, right?

Kinoe rubbed the back of his head, "This is uh, awkward. Really bad timing hime."

"Why?" I asked as a voice called from inside, "Who is it, Kinoe-kun?"

"A date?" I gasped with a devious smirk when I realized the voice belonged to a woman. Kinoe paled a good few shades. A woman peered around Kinoe's arms and when her eyes landed on me she gave a delighted smirk accompanied by a pleased gasp.

"Uchiha Fushicho?"

I nodded, "Uh yeah, that's me."

She grinned and took a hold of my upper arm before dragging me inside. I got a better look at her now. She was rather average with brown hair tied loosely and... she was a Hyuuga? Why did that not surprise me?

I turned and gave a flat look to my sensei, "Do you have a thing for Hyuugas?"

The Hyuuga girl guffawed as Kinoe seemed to wilt even further, "Ha, he probably does, doesn't he? But no. I'm Hyuuga Aina. But you can call me Jennifer when we're in Matt's apartment."

Oh good. This is exactly what I had in mind when I came this way. Thoroughly regretting my detour I turned to Kinoe, "Not that I'm not thrilled to meet you, Jennifer but I just fucking ran into Gaara."

"Oh." both Kinoe and Aina said in unison. That conveyed my exact thoughts on the matter.

"Yeah. Oh." I snarked, "We stole the fucking Wave mission so how do we get Sasu his sharingan and Kakashi-shishou to put Team Seven into the exams?"

We moved the conversation to the couch where Kinoe sat down and covered his face with both his hands. Aina relaxed on the couch and I gave her a questioning look. She didn't look like she was thinking very hard on the matter at hand.

"Don't look at me like that. Kinoe's the brains of this operation." Aina told me, "He's pretty fucking smart beneath that idiot outside."

"Can you not?" retorted Kinoe without moving his hands.

Aina just grinned and kicked her feet up on the table. It was awkward watching a Hyuuga act like this. Typically they were graceful, quiet and calm. Aina was loud and proud, acting much like she owned the place. I eyed her curiously and she just smirked as I did so. Of course she was also eyeing me up at the same time. This was about when I realized her forehead was bare.

"Ah, noticed?" Aina hummed, "Hyuuga Aina is the first Hyuuga to be born without a working byakugan in over a century."

"Wouldn't they still put a seal on for control?" I questioned as I observed Aina. Aina, as I looked further, had very light pupils with what looked like a white glaze over them. The other Hyuugas I had seen didn't have a hint of a pupil. Rather Aina's eyes were like she was wearing Hyuuga contacts over regular blue eyes.

Aina shrugged, "Whatever their reasons, they didn't. Don't really care either. I'm free as a bird like this!"

Aina spread her arms and leaned her head back. She grinned and seemed to get lost in her imagination for a moment. Kinoe took my attention when he clapped his fist down into his hand and grunted.

"That's it!"

"What's it?" I was the one to ask when Aina still didn't move.

Kinoe pointed to me, "Naruto the Movie: Clash in the Land of Snow."

"No way Kakashi-shishou would think they're ready for that." I blanched.

Aina made her contribution without her body moving from its position, "Nor is it time for that. That happens after the Chunin Exams. The new Princess Fuun movie isn't even out yet."

I added after Aina made me remember a key feature, "Naruto doesn't know rasengan yet. They would fucking die."

Kinoe jumped up, "That's why we need to bring Jiraiya back early!"

"Right. You're one of his contacts." Aina nodded, humming, "He feels bad since Danzo has a hate boner against you."

"Can you leave?" Kinoe demanded immediately after Aina's previous comment, "Whenever you come over you don't help anything."

Aina stood up gracefully and seemed to transform entirely. Her sneer turned into a graceful smile and she bowed slowly to us, "Thank you for having me, Uzumaki-san."

I gaped as she gracefully let herself out with not a single outburst suggesting who she had been several moments prior. Kinoe nodded when I looked at him.

"While Aina is one of the most irritating of the Samsaras, she has had a pretty difficult second life so I don't hold things against her."

"Right. Now, where were we? Right. What do we do?" I asked urgently. I pretty much ignored what he said about Aina.

Kinoe smiled, "Don't worry. I got this."

I narrowed my eyes at him but Kinoe shooed me out of his apartment, saying he really wanted a relaxing day after dealing with our team for an extended period of time. Before he slammed the door on me I stuck my tongue out at him and he assured me everything would go as planned into the Chunin Exams. What happened in the exams though, would entirely depend on outlying factors.

I walked to Bu's house slowly. I was consumed by my thoughts and didn't even notice when I got there and just, stood outside looking at his house like I had never seen it before. I thought about how it would look when Orochimaru's giant snakes came into the village and fucked things up. Would their house still be standing? Would they still be alive?

Bu must have noticed me from his window because he opened it and called down to me, "Fu? What do you need?"

I blinked, "Ah, hey."

Bu let me in the normal people way and we went up to his room. Onna wasn't home yet and I sat on Bu's futon and hugged my knees to my chest. Bu was pretty confused and sat on his desk chair, facing me in silence. I think the mood was just perfect for sob stories or something, because Bu decided he wanted to join my pity party.

Finally, Bu said, "I had my first kill."

I looked up in shock and in a voice far softer than I would normally use with Bu, whispered, "Oh... Bu..."

My face must have conveyed something because Bu smiled gently, "But I've come to terms with it, kind of. I rather like how things are now."

Bu continued when I looked at him blankly, "When I saw you and Haku-san in that crowd I thought, I have to do something. They look like they're going to die. So I threw my worst into those thugs and several of them were just, obliterated by my bombs. I would rather your life to theirs any day though so I'm not going to let this stop me."

Bu slipped off his chair and knelt in front of me. He smiled brightly and suddenly the light streamed in from the window and Bu just seemed to glow. His skin was far darker than anyone else's in Konoha and often was a very warm tone but as this light poured in suddenly Bu seemed too good to be true. My mouth dropped and as I looked at Bu tears just collected in my eyes.

Emotions I couldn't understand overwhelmed me and I held back those tears. Bu was pretty alarmed that I was, you know, crying in front of him. I was Fushicho after all. I was an asshole who was always ready to fight and always cursing. Even when the clan was massacred Bu hadn't seen me cry. Yet here I was, grossly holding back sobs as Bu flailed a bit trying to figure out what to do.

"What did I say?!" he cried, "Please don't be sad! We're fine!"

I wiped my eyes and shook my head, "What if we aren't always fine?"

"Don't think about that." Bu said firmly, "Don't think about things like that."

"But-"

Bu cut me off, "Don't forget the present when you're trying to look into the future, Fu. I know that mission was a wake-up call. You could have died. I could have died. Kyuketsu could have died. But we're all here now and we learned some things. We're going to use those things so that next time we don't die either."

I sniffled and Bu looked like he was thinking something over before he shot forward and wrapped his arms around me. I fell backwards and Bu yelped as both our weights landed on his hands and arms behind my back. I also hissed in pain because Bu's arms were not pleasant to fall back onto. Also Bu was heavy. Yet I only cried harder and Bu pulled me up so that he was kind of properly hugging me.

I leaned my forehead on Bu's shirt, "I'm scared of the future. I'm scared of the unknown."

"Then don't think of it." Bu whispered, shifting around a bit until we were in a less awkward position.

We sat in silence for awhile and I didn't realize Onna had gotten home until I felt her chakra, last second, outside Bu's door. I didn't have the chance to push Bu away before Onna kicked the door open and stood there, a grin on her face. As she appraised us Bu and I kind of just froze and realized what this looked like from an outsider's point of view. Onna probably thought we were cuddling.

"Door open when you have a girl up here, Obu!"

Bu pushed away from me like I was on fire and started to explain to his mom it wasn't what it looked like. My eyes were dry at this point and I felt all my doubts melt away. I watched Bu scramble to his mom to beg her to believe him and a smile crossed my face. I stood up as Onna laughed at her poor frantic son. When Bu was done basically screaming in fear I told Onna what I came for. Then I left after Onna said she would be glad to come over for dinner and supervise my cooking. We decided tomorrow would be best and I left after Onna gave a last jab towards Bu.

"Isn't this great, Obu? Your girlfriend is going to cook for you!"

Bu was pretty much dying as I left.

It was funny how that idiot could always put a smile on my face.

There was a burst of smoke from a shunshin next to me and I gave Kakashi a nasty look, "Tell me you were spying."

"Why I was concerned my cute little hime went into a boy's home and didn't come out for a long time." Kakashi demurred, closing an eye and me and probably grinning innocently at me. That statement on the other hand, screamed dirty intentions.

"I hate you. By the way, Onna-san is helping me cook tomorrow. Stop by because your cute little dumb genin team is coming over for food." I informed him.

Kakashi hummed, "That sounds nice. Maybe I will stop by."

I started to walk away faster but Kakashi kept pace with me easily, "You're acting much more pleasant today. Did something happen?"

"Shishou please go away." I retorted immediately as if it was a reflex.

Kakashi was probably pouting but it's not like I could see if he was, "So mean to your favorite shishou."

"I would be nicer if you didn't spy on me." I huffed.

Kakashi shrugged, "If you really didn't want me spying you could sense me and ask me to leave."

I groaned, "Do you realize the time that would take? I doubt you would sit there and wait for me. You'd make me chase you across the village all day and call it training."

Kakashi decided I was on to him and he told me he'd see me tomorrow on time and then he poofed away. On time for him probably meant dessert time. I went home and told Sasu to tell his team what time we were meeting and I made my usual dinner. Sasu almost cried when he took a bite because I was finally back to cook for him. He admitted he did like my specialty pickled daikon and after not having it for a long time he started to miss it.

Poor Sasu, I must be destroying his taste buds for that to happen.

That night I took a long bath and Sasu was able to sneak in to join me for the first time since we were kids. I almost died when he pretty much sprinted into the room and hopped into the tub with me. In fact I almost booked it out of there when he whipped his towel off but Sasu didn't let that happen.

I hung over the side of the tub with a red face, "Sis, you're weird." Sasu informed me.

"Gee, thanks." I huffed while looking anywhere but where Sasu was relaxing.

I wasn't a fan of this part of the culture. I hadn't gone to an onsen yet but I was sure I would be uncomfortable in that situation too. However that was at least gender segregated. Why couldn't Sasu be a sister instead of a brother!? When we were younger I could let it go but as we were approaching puberty soon I wanted to not have things be awkward for me. What age did this end at? Please be soon.

Please.

After I left the bath I settled down for bed and soon fell asleep. Nightmares overtook me but instead of the usual ones these were simply dreams of the terrible potential future.

.

The next day I was woken up not by Kyuketsu but by Onna. She let herself into our house and dragged me, screaming in fear, out of my bed. I went to set her on fire before I realized it was just Onna and not a murderer. Onna, apparently having some delusion that I had to look especially cute today, proceeded to give me an outfit she picked out herself. I was very interested in how she knew my sizes to which she gave a "Fufu" laugh and told me she knew.

Okay?

Anyway, Onna ended up finding me a battle kimono kind of like hers. The only difference was the one I was forced into was darker in color and cut off at my knees instead of being full length like hers. Onna tried to get me into battle geta like her own shoes but I refused. Onna tried her damn hardest to put my hair up into a bun but I just had too much hair so she gave up and made me put it into a ponytail.

"Look how cute you are, Fushicho-chan!" Onna cooed as she tried to manhandle my face so I would smile into my mirror. I continued to pout though and she let go so I could observe what she did. I was kind of alright with the outfit. I wouldn't wear it if she didn't force it on me but I had really nice legs it turns out. The burn birthmark was left for the world to see as Onna then dragged me around the market all afternoon to get ingredients for a good, large meal. When that was done we started boot camp.

When Sasu's team arrived Naruto pretty much sprinted into the room at the smell. He swooned when he saw the feast that was prepared with Onna's strict and careful guidance.

"That looks amazing, Shicho!" Naruto gushed. He went to grab something and I promptly smacked his hand away hard.

He whined as I hissed, "I spent hours making this! I suffered for this! Do not touch with your filthy hands!"

Onna tsked at me, "Be nice Fushicho-chan. It does smell good in here."

I made Naruto wash his hands while I proudly looked over the table. Sasu walked in looking like he regret his decision to invite his team as Sakura followed him like a puppy dog. I stifled my snickers as Sasu took a seat in his usual spot and Naruto jumped in his spot. Sakura tried to take the spot next to Sasu but he shook his head at her, "That's Shicho's seat."

Sasu liked feeling important so he took the head of the table and I sat to his right and Naruto to his left. Sakura went to sit next to me next but Onna shook her head at her and pointed to the cushion beside Naruto. Sakura looked disappointed but plopped down gracefully. Onna took the other end of the table and beamed at all of us.

"So where's Bu?" I asked casually.

Onna smiled deviously, "I have a plan."

"She admits it." I sighed. Sakura and Naruto looked confused. Regardless we all said itadakimasu and started to dig in. Sasuke sank down in relief when he took his first couple bites and realized Onna had really drilled my cooking ability. I myself was smugly eating while Naruto did the best impression of a vacuum he has done so far. Sakura looked pretty awkward and tried to start conversation with me.

"So, Fushicho-san..." she murmured, "You graduated early, right? I remember you were in our class until last year."

I nodded and explained how my apprenticeship worked to her. Sakura nodded at my words and her face lit up when I mentioned Kakashi was my shishou.

"Then you understand!" she exclaimed. I blinked and she elaborated, "How he's always late!"

"He's notorious for that sweetheart. The entire village knows." Onna laughed. Sakura blushed and looked down at her plate.

Dinner finished up pretty quickly when Naruto started talking since no one else could get a word in. Onna started washing the dishes while I started on dessert. Of course Onna kept a very, very close eye on me because it turns out desserts are my worst enemy. It was about this moment when Sasu must have let Bu and Kakashi in. So Bu came to see me because he didn't want to deal with Team Seven.

I was focused on what I was doing so it wasn't until Bu's chakra flashed in surprise that I looked over my shoulder and found Bu in the doorway with his mouth wide open. His eyes scanned me quickly several times in disbelief. I was wearing an apron so that I wouldn't get anything on the kind gift Onna forced me into so I probably looked very unlike myself.

Bu found his tongue again after closing his mouth, "You're wearing an apron."

"Yes." I nodded, "This is an apron."

"You, Uchiha Fushicho, are wearing an apron." Bu stated before looking at his mom. His mom's back was to him but I could see the wide smirk on her lips from my position.

I nodded again, "Yes, I am Uchiha Fushicho and I am also wearing what is known as an apron. Anything else obvious?"

Bu's eyes returned to me, "Your hair is up."

"Yes."

"And tamed."

"Kind of. Yes."

"And you're still Uchiha Fushicho?"

"I mean, probably."

Kakashi peeked over Bu's head, probably to see what caused Bu to act like an idiot, and he blinked. He blinked a second time before calmly complimenting my apron and disappearing back to where he came from. This seemed to shock Bu out of his idiot moment and he stepped into the kitchen and went to taste what I was making. I promptly smacked his hand with a spoon and he yelped.

"I swear, you and Naruto both! Do not touch my food with your filthy hands!" I huffed. Bu whined and Onna stifled her laughter as she excused herself to go set the table for dessert.

Bu rubbed his hand before a small smile overcame his lips and I turned back to what I was doing. I could feel Bu's eyes on my back as he watched me. Finally he said, "Who's the yamato nadeshiko now, Fu?"

"Still you." I retorted without skipping a beat. Bu sputtered for a moment, expecting a better response from me I'm sure, before he muttered something about how I looked more like a yamato nadeshiko. When Onna didn't come back I made Bu help me bring out dessert and we all ate together. It was fun. Bu kept glancing at Sakura as if he had never seen her before and I could read his expression perfectly. As she swooned vigorously over Sasu he was probably wondering why he had liked her in the first place.

Sasu kept throwing glances at Bu which was causing Sakura to also look at Bu on occasion. Naruto was happily oblivious while Kakashi was very focused on eating when no one was looking. I didn't catch his face once. Amazing right? I've been actively trying to see it for years too. When we were all done Sakura volunteered to help clean up when Sasu started gathering dishes. Her plan backfired when he proceeded to give her those dishes and he went to go do shit with Naruto.

I kind of laughed at her.

Onna went to help which left me, Kakashi and Bu sitting together.

"So, Obu-san, did you know Fushicho-"

I killed that before it could go anywhere, "Shishou, I will kick you out of my house."

"Maa, so mean to me."

It was a really good day. I almost completely forgot about my troubles. I almost forgot about the upcoming Chunin Exams. About Orochimaru. About even what happened in Wave.

After Team Seven left and Onna sent Bu home so he could get a bath ready(He was embarrassed by her wording of this, by the way) Onna and I finished cleaning up in the kitchen. I let out a deep breath as I surveyed the kitchen to make sure it was spotless. Making a large meal for people was satisfying but exhausting. Cleaning was never fun either. Sasu was bathing now and by the time I was done hopefully he would be a shriveled prune and stop waiting like a creeper in the bath for me.

I was determined to break him of this cultural habit even if it killed me.

"Fushicho-chan, I was speaking to Kinoe-san about the upcoming Chunin Exams yesterday." Onna mentioned as she finished drying a plate and observed it severely.

I blinked, "What about?"

"I'm concerned about what will happen." she confessed, "What with you being an Uchiha and Orochimaru going after Sasuke. What if he goes after your team too?"

What.

Wait.

Oh fuck.

I short circuited and looked at Onna as if she were an alien. She put away the last plate and turned to fully face me. Her face was severe and she didn't look as young as she usually did now. She looked tired.

I opened my mouth but she cut me off, "Before you ask, no. I'm not a Samsara."

"Then how?" I demanded.

Onna leaned back against the counter and looked out the window, "Obu doesn't belong, much like you Fushicho-chan. But not in the same way."

"Onna-san." I warned, "Be straight with me."

She chuckled, "Bu's father was a Samsara. I'm sure you can tell but I'm not from Konoha. I'm not even from Fire Country. I'm from a village in Lightning. I met Bu's father there and many years ago he told me everything. He told me what would one day come to pass. He moved us here so he could keep an eye on the story's progression. However when he heard the Uchiha twins Sasuke and Fushicho were born he disappeared without a trace. I know he'll return someday and until then I'm going to use my knowledge to keep my baby alive so he can finally meet his father."

I was rendered speechless. I mean, Bu and Onna you could tell didn't belong here. Their skin tone was the major factor but even their facial structures. They had sharp almond eyes and bent noses. But I had never thought anything involving the Samsaras could have possibly been the cause. Onna watched my expression and she sighed.

"Watching your mother die was hard. I'm a few years older than her so when I moved here and managed to prove my loyalty we became chunin together. She was a lovely woman and knowing she would die broke my heart. But you also broke my heart, Fushicho-chan." Onna sniffled a bit, "When Mikoto arranged your first play date with Obu I realized that it was inevitable. You two would be drawn together no matter what I did. I resented you for that. Fushicho-chan, has anyone ever told you that your feel like death?"

Onna looked guilty after she said that. I blinked and shook my head. Onna sighed again.

She murmured, "It's faint, but well trained shinobi can sense death from Samsaras. Most don't know what it is they're feeling and are just uneasy around the Samsara. Eventually they get used to it as they kill in the line of duty and are used to the feeling of death. Civilians that know you for awhile also get used to your off aura."

"I see." I said, "That sounds like an omen when you put it that way." I didn't blame Onna for blaming me. I didn't blame her for resenting me either. It was true that Bu could have died back on the Wave mission. I looked down at the floor and fought back angry tears. I would not cry over this. I refused to cry.

"I'm not letting Obu die Fushicho-chan. But I'm not letting anything happen to you either." Onna stated firmly. My head jerked and my eyes widened. I made eye contact with Onna.

The light streamed in from the window and the sunset just seemed to glow off her. Her eyes lit up and her skin glowed. Onna was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen before, if I was honest. And standing here in front of me I wasn't entirely sure who I was looking at. Was she on my side? Or was she against me, like this entire world was?

She swallowed but steadily said, "After the massacre I saw a lonely little girl and not the omen I thought you were. I sent Obu to you because you are just that, a little girl. And one day..."

Onna perked back to her usual self, "I would like to see your relationship with Obu progress more. Uchiha grand-babies sound adorable!"

I choked for several reasons, "Not the right time, Onna-san!"

She chuckled, "Humor is important in dark situations. Remember that."

I honestly don't remember much from the rest of that conversation. We _kind of_ planned. Onna told me what she heard about the Chunin Exams and she gave me some real world updates from her sources about the upcoming exams. So far everything seemed like it was going exactly the same. The only exception would be Team Seven if we couldn't kick them into gear.

After Onna left I washed up, skipped my bath, and went straight to sleep. Fushicho spent the night torturing me with thoughts of Bu's fate in the upcoming exams.

Wait a minute. Did that mean Kinoe was sending us in?

He never said he was going to, but he also never said he wasn't going to.

Son of a fuck.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Yay plot!**

 **So I never put Haku on the poll I had up for who Fushicho should be paired with. Oops? Now, for Fushicho I want her to have real relationships. Thats right. Plural. She is going to date, be broken up with or break up with, get back together with, or possibly stay with, people. Its an exercise I want to work on and Fushicho is the perfect victim.**

 **Fun Fact : Fushicho isn't sure if that forehead kiss was supposed to mean something but she's a pretty dense person to non-obvious romance and kind of just, filed it away.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **Nenecchi  
Love Stories00  
Kahya  
Thomas Drovin  
Guest  
FNK  
Opinion (Guest)**


	20. Talk the Walk

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 20_

 _Talk the Walk_

* * *

Kyuketsu must have read my mind about the things that made me uncomfortable. First of all, fuck his spiders. Second of all, he decided that the onsen would be perfect for relaxing me and taking away any stress that could be causing my nightmares. I told Kyuketsu his idea was stupid but Bu thought it was a great idea. The little shit just wanted to go to the onsen himself. At least Kyuketsu hasn't used fire against me yet, right?

I mean, I'm not complaining. Considering what I learned about Bu and Onna, the upcoming Chunin Exams, and my nightmares I really needed to take a chill pill. I was a walking pile of anxiety.

However it was awkward because there was no way in hell that I would go into the mixed bathing area. I refused when Bu and Kyuketsu suggested it. Typically it was the old people who used the mixed bathes because they didn't give a single fuck. There was a fence separating the men and women's sections so we decided we would just meet up at the fence and talk through it.

I was pretty lucky because there weren't any women washing up when I cleaned myself beforehand. Although a few women did come in as I was leaving so I hurried the fuck out of there. In the actual spring area though there were a few groups of women chatting quite happily. I could already feel a light blush dusting my cheeks.

I hugged my towel tight as I inched around the hot spring. I tried not to stare at the other women, because that would just feel awkward to me, as I edged towards the fence. When I made it I slowly tested the water with my toes and sank in slowly. I removed my towel as I sank in because it was considered rude if you let your towel touch the water. I folded it up and placed it on my head and leaned back against the wall as I waited to hear Kyuketsu and Bu's voices.

I could feel the water soothing my body as I waited and I closed my eyes. By the time Bu and Kyuketsu got there I was dozing off. Of course Bu made sure I was awake before he started talking a mile a minute about something. I couldn't really hear them very well so I started to doze off again pretty soon. It was a pretty long time before Bu realized I was snoozing and tried to wake me up again. Kyuketsu advised him against it as I needed my relaxation to cure my nightmares.

How do you cure a nightmare, by the way. It's not really a condition, is it?

Anyway, Bu and Kyuketsu eventually woke me up because they started messing around and got yelled at by some of the other bathers.

I had a pretty rude awakening after that too. See, I could sleep through Bu and Kyuketsu getting scolded. I could not sleep through what felt like roaming eyes on my body.

So I woke up because I opened my eyes and found someone who could only be Jiraiya perched on the roof of the onsen, staring down at the women's bath. I shrieked on instinct and immediately the other women followed my eyes and also tried to cover up. A few swore angrily at Jiraiya and he just hopped down and casually stopped by me.

Jiraiya grinned down at me with his eyes paying attention to the other, older, bathers, "Your sensei is looking for you and your teammates."

I growled, "And you couldn't have told the boys on the men's side!?"

He laughed and his eyes flicked in my direction but they didn't remain, "What fun is that?"

Long story short about fifteen minutes later we were all at our training grounds with Kinoe looking sheepish. He was probably kicking himself for sending Jiraiya after his students when they were visiting the onsen. Jiraiya looked very proud of himself as he looked between us all. Kyuketsu was about as dead to the world as he usually was but Bu was very disgruntled with Jiraiya after his stunt in the woman's side of the onsen. I was still pretty embarrassed and I was plotting Jiraiya's downfall as Kinoe rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey kids, guess what?" Kinoe chirped, trying to pump excitement into us with his own peppiness, "Chunin exams!"

Kinoe, in an attempt to get a response from us, suddenly had three paper forms in his hand. He fanned them out and waved them like a fan at himself. He rose an eyebrow when none of us responded.

Kyuketsu nodded and hummed after observing the forms for a few seconds, "As expected."

"You expected this?" Bu questioned as his own face lit up at the news, "Man this is gonna be awesome!"

I glared daggers into Kinoe's head as various simulations of what could potentially happen ran through my head and he ruffled my hair without looking, "Don't worry, Hime! Your cute twin will also be in the exams."

I coughed, "What."

How did that make things any better? In fact, as I further thought on the matter, that made things slightly worse! What would Orochimaru do if he had to choose between Uchiha? Also, Sasuke was totally nowhere near ready! Neither was Sakura or Naruto.

Kinoe nodded and as if reading my troubled mind, demurred, "Kakashi is taking them on their first C rank this week and then he'll probably submit them after that."

"Ooh, Uchiha rivalry." Jiraiya hummed while nodding to himself, "Sounds pretty fiery."

Suddenly reminded Jiraiya was here, I asked flatly, "Why are you still here, pervert."

Jiraiya bounced to his feet when all attention was on him. He posed and flexed for a moment and announced himself as the great toad sage Jiraiya. When that got a lackluster response of just stares, he actually somewhat answered my question, "Why your sensei asked me to come!"

"That still explains nothing." I said, flatly again. I looked at Kinoe and he nodded.

"I asked him to come and train Naruto." Kinoe informed me with an oddly mischievous grin. Jiraiya took a moment to pale and the rest of us exchanged brief glances. I was willing to bet the name Naruto had not been mentioned in their agreement.

"Right, Naruto has been trying to get in touch with you sensei." I thought aloud, "Is this your way of pushing him off?" Kinoe looked slightly offended.

"This is my way of keeping him safe." Kinoe stated with no room for further argument from myself. He bowed his head to Jiraiya and begged, "Please, take care of Naruto for the exams."

"I don't know, I'm not a kid person-" Jiraiya began but Kinoe cut him off with a whiny voice, "But rasengan!"

"Kinoe-"

"You know you should!"

"Kinoe-"

"You're his godfather!"

"You're his uncle-!"

"Jiraaaaaiiiyaaaaa!"

From there Kinoe, with the lungs of a god, proceeded to draw out the end of Jiraiya's name for a legendary amount of time. He progressively started to get higher in pitch until his voice finally cracked and there was a pleasant moment of silence. Kyuketsu fell backwards off his perch, possibly dead, and Bu smacked the side of his head a couple times to make sure his ears hadn't broken before Kinoe's voice.

I sighed in relief.

But then Kinoe's mouth opened and he took a great big inhale before starting again. However Jiraiya's huge hand clamped down over Kinoe's mouth before he could even reach the end of the first syllable.

"Fine! But you're teaching him everything else!"

Through Jiraiya's hand, Kinoe mumbled, "Nd' eh teohds?"

Jiraiya moaned and somehow translated the mumbles, "Yes, and the toads."

"Pweasure doin' bwuisness."

Jiraiya looked like he was reminded why he didn't contact Kinoe often. Or visit at all. To be honest I was also reminded why Kinoe was generally thought of as the village pariah.

Back to business, I turned to Bu and gave him an exaggerated thumbs up, "Your ears are still working."

"Are they?" he replied airily, "Honestly still hear a ringing."

From the floor Kyuketsu agreed with a grunt. It was good to see he was alive.

Kyuketsu eventually sat up when Kinoe handed our paperwork out and we spent some time filling things out. By now we all had most of the information we needed memorized, especially our ID numbers, so the hardest part was Kinoe had to fill in our stats. For the most part statistically I was unchanged from training with Kakashi. But really I had vastly improved and I wasn't sure why my numbers hadn't changed. Bu had gone up quite a bit and Kyuketsu jumped up a number or two.

"You were pretty overestimated when you worked under Kakashi. Your numbers won't change for awhile so don't be discouraged, Hime." Kinoe informed me, yet again as if he had read my mind. I gave him an 'aa' for a response.

Kinoe suddenly gasped dramatically, "I almost forgot!"

We all looked at him in confusion. He pointed at me and stage whispered, "The hns!"

"The hns?" I repeated, very confused.

"The hns!" Kinoe insisted again. Jiraiya took this moment to escape with a shunshin. I kind of wished I had been able to do the same. Bu and Kyuketsu shared a glance and stepped back, leaving me to Kinoe's sudden odd tangent. Turns out they were right to step back as Kinoe latched onto me.

Kinoe shook me by the shoulders and in a voice only the two of us could hear, gasped, "The fanfiction Uchiha noises! The hns! The occasional aa or ah!"

It took me a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about. When I did eventually remember the infamous Sasuke hn of fanfiction that I read when I was fourteen I nodded in slight realization.

"I... see." I murmured before a devilish glee rose inside me, "Hn."

"I've created a monster!" Kinoe wailed while not looking upset in the slightest, "Oh the horror! What if Sasuke catches this terrible fate?"

"He probably already has it and I just haven't noticed it." I confessed. Now that we were no longer whispering in conspiracy, my teammates could join the conversation if they wanted to. Kyuketsu clearly did not.

"Can you enlighten us now?" Bu questioned while quirking his brow.

I pushed Kinoe's arms off my shoulders and gave a sympathetic nod to Bu, "Aa, they're apparently sounds Uchiha used to make back in his day."

"Are you calling me old?" Kinoe questioned.

Bu and I were apparently on the same page as together we agreed, "Positively ancient."

Kyuketsu hummed in bemused agreement, "Archaic."

.

When I got home from goofing off with my team Sasu was packing for his C rank already. I quietly stood in the doorway as he packed clothes and camping gear. When he turned around and found me there he didn't even jump, "We have our first C rank."

"Hn, that's nice." I replied, trying to sound as Uchiha as possible. Sasu did give me an odd look but he didn't comment. I thought the hn made me sound very stoic and aloof. Like, that hn clearly meant I was disregarding anyone else's feelings but my own nonexistent ones.

Clearly.

I helped Sasu pack some odd necessities that he didn't think he needed, such as pajamas which was rather odd. I wasn't sure why he didn't think he'd need pajamas considering the time frame they were given to pack for was a week.

Sasu tried to defend himself, "They could weigh me down."

"Right. A pair of pajamas is going to weigh you down." I replied dryly. I didn't roll my eyes at him but I'm sure he knew that I internally was.

When Sasu was all good and packed we started on dinner. Sasu did a double take when he saw I was actually using the apron Onna had forced onto me the other day. Sasu stopped being weird and returned to setting the table when I brought out the food. As we ate Sasu gratefully told me that my side dishes that did not involve my specialty had improved drastically since Onna's boot camp.

I sniffed, "I guess you just don't appreciate me cooking for you."

"No offense sis but you really do need to work on your cooking skills." Sasu replied with an amount of sass I did not appreciate. His punishment was dishes and I went and took my bath. I got out before he could even try sneaking in and that night I slept without any nightmares or dreams. I woke up several times feeling restless but the next morning my body felt better than it had in a long time. It was probably the onsen that did that.

Sasu left for his mission and I saw him off at the gates. The week he was gone was a pretty long one. It wasn't long in that I missed him or worried about him. Not to say I didn't worry about him because I knew he would have one hell of a mission just based off Team Seven's luck with missions. No, my week was filled with Onna.

Onna was like the wind in that she could get through the slightest crack and bother you. But Onna was not just that nice little breeze or the window screaming at you. She could be a goddamn hurricane if she wanted to and that was the week she put me through. I don't know why, and I don't think I will _ever_ know why, Onna put me through an entire week on being a lady. I could say it was because she decided I was going to give her Uchiha grand babies with Bu, but that wasn't quite it. I'm sure if ever asked, Onna would say, "My baby boy needs a wife who can keep up with him!" But that just wasn't the case.

Bu tagged along for the week and day three Kyuketsu joined. Everyday Onna loaded me down with cookbooks and taught me how to make different things. Bu was probably about twenty pounds heavier after that week because Onna didn't believe in wasting food and everything that she and I didn't eat was forced into her son. By that I mean Bu was treated as the garbage can where anything we couldn't finish after sampling would go. The poor guy would probably never look at food the same way ever again.

For the first two days Onna did the basics of everything with me. She taught me how to knit, sew and embroider. Bu, when he wasn't dying in a food coma, loved this lesson because he could assist in it. It was honestly amazing what Onna and Bu could do with some fabric, a needle and thread. Onna walked me through basic patching, how to make a scarf, and we embroidered my name onto a patch that went on one of Itachi's old shirts that I usually wore to bed.

Day three Kyuketsu joined us for the first lesson on acting like a lady. Onna believed in harsh punishment so whenever I did something unladylike I was treated accordingly. She caught me swearing twice and the first time was a warning which I thought was a bluff. I didn't think Onna would actually make me eat soap. Then she caught me the second time and she made me eat soap. Onna did not catch me swearing again.

Onna also decided I needed to learn how to walk in a feminine way. I thought I looked ridiculous as I tried to copy Onna with her swinging hips and peppy step. Bu was smothering his laughter while Kyuketsu did the job Onna assigned him. Kyuketsu was to fuck me up in any way he wanted to try. He could bump into me, throw something at me, talk to me. Kyuketsu did a variety of other things too like detonating one of Bu's horrendous stink concoctions and finding some harmless garden spiders to chase me with.

I almost killed him.

Day four Kyuketsu blossomed. Onna spent that day focusing on medicine, herbs and plants. Kakashi for the most part got me out of kunoichi classes in the academy. Even if he didn't get me out of a class I always said I had to deal with Kakashi that day. I probably went to a grand total of like four classes. Onna was very not impressed and she tried her damn hardest to cram several different flower languages into my lesser brain and I had to taste every herb that wouldn't immediately kill me.

"This reminds me of the herbs from Wave." I gagged as I retched up some unholy poison that Onna swore wouldn't kill me. She tsked and made a mark on a paper.

Kyuketsu looked up from where he was sorting Onna's herb reserve peacefully, "Yes, you're very bad at this."

Bu wasn't too good at this either though so he was pretending he didn't exist and was knitting in the corner. In the basket beside him were three more starts to scarves. One was Onna's and hers was almost done, a good two feet longer than the rest of them. Hers, along with Bu's, looked like the kind of scarf you would buy in the store. Kyuketsu's started off a bit rough but evened out as he got used to it. Mine looked like something the cat dragged in but if you looked at the bottom there were far less strands out of place. Knitting and sewing was kind of cathartic and I found I didn't mind it as much as I thought I did.

"Fushicho-chan pay attention. You're going to try oleander next. Feel the texture-"

I groaned but complied.

Day five Onna made sure I wouldn't kill myself making the medicinal pastes she was teaching me. Alongside the pastes were some simple poisons and Bu gave me some choice recipes for some of the things he could make. Of course Onna just sighed and told me no gunpowder until I could make something else without fucking up. The rest of day five I learned how to do an actual tea ceremony and Kyuketsu was vaguely interested in this while Bu took a nap after finishing his scarf. She also made sure my manners were good and believe me, they were great if I wanted them to be. I had learned basic etiquette from Momma.

Day six was the last day of training and Onna kicked Bu and Kyuketsu out for day six.

Onna looked pretty menacing as she held a cutesy pink box up in front of me, "Welcome to The Talk."

"Oh my god." was my first response. My second response was a repeat of the first when I realized she was serious.

I did try and get out of it after telling her I went through this all before but she blatantly ignored me. I don't want to linger on the topic but Onna walked me through how to handle kunoichi pills when I needed them as well as the female necessities in this world. It was pretty much the same as I was used to though so I didn't particularly care. I honestly lost it when Onna held up a condom and we took a break then. After the basic Talk was done we had lunch.

After lunch, Onna once again stood in front of me with a terrifying look. I scooted back a bit, concerned over what could possibly be next.

"Fushicho-chan, when a kunoichi starts to mature the hospital recommends seduction classes." Onna began and I almost fell off my chair, "Now you learn a lot of interesting things in this class including how to seduce, how to cope if you do enter the seduction corps, how to please a man-"

Onna politely paused when I gave a strangled noise in response. The rest of her lecture included some interesting things when I wasn't screaming about some of the more raunchy, mature topics. Of course I was a high school senior when I died in my last life so you know I had experience in dating and all that. My experiences weren't that great because I wasn't all that attractive and if you think Fushicho is a nasty brat, you should have seen Veronica in her glory. So while I talk the talk pretty well, I haven't walked the walk. Also, do you know how awkward Onna was making this? Really awkward. Beyond awkward. I would be scarred for life.

I did learn some interesting things that didn't make me scream though. Onna explained that the seduction classes covered how to cover as a geisha or a courtesan. Generally they gave assignments to kunoichi to learn instruments such as the lute, shamisen, flute, and harp. A kunoichi's acting skills were polished during the course so that a kunoichi could shed her face like at the flip of a switch. In seconds they could transform into someone else without a single thought to it.

Onna decided she really wanted to see how red she could make my face though and focused on getting me to walk in a feminine way.

"Fushicho-chan, you're going to be nicely figured when you mature." Onna commented as she watched me almost trip over a book on the floor in my attempts to not drop the books on my head.

I shrugged while my face was definitely dusted in pink, "We'll see."

"You're probably going to get your first menstrual period soon too." Onna added as she put her hands on my hips, "You're starting to fill out here and you're starting to get taller than the boys."

I gave her another shrug, "When it happens it happens. It was nice not having it."

"A woman's lot is to suffer." Onna murmured, "Nonetheless, you should start dressing appropriately."

I groaned and lost the books on my head from the instinctual response of throwing my head back in displeasure. I caught them easily and gave Onna what I could only classify as a begging puppy look. But Onna firmly put her foot down.

"Uchiha Fushicho you stop wearing your brothers clothes and wear that nice battle kimono I got you."

I whined, "But it's so much hassle to put on!"

"These," Onna pat my hips again before gesturing to her own chest, "And these will be great assets one day. Your pretty face will get you far but these will get you further."

I sat down on her couch and kicked my legs up. Onna regarded me for a moment before snapping her fingers.

"Right, I got you some things."

I watched curiously as she lifted a few bags and brought them over to me. When I opened the first one I gasped and immediately closed it, "No you didn't."

"I did." Onna, very cheerfully and proudly, responded.

Inside the bags were various bras and underwear. There were boy shorts and what could only be called period panties. Then there were some regular ones that matched the training bras with cute little girl patterns such as polka dots and strawberries. It was clear who did the shopping in this house considering I just got the girl version of what she got Bu for pajamas and boxers.

"Why spend so much money on me?" I whispered, "I have an entire dead clan's fortune."

Onna pretended not to hear me, "I'm a bit late so I got you regular bras instead of training bras. When you start to fill out more you'll need kunoichi no bounce ones to help you but-"

I repeated myself, "Why spend so much on me when I have so much money and a first life behind me?"

Onna pressed her lips together firmly and she sat down next to me. She pushed a bag into my lap and leaned back. I waited a few seconds to see if she was going to say something and she did, "I wasn't lying when I said I saw a lost little girl. You might have had another life but you died young, right? A teenager. Before Kinoe-kun confirmed it to me I thought you had died young. There was a maturity about you that told me you were older than you appeared, but you didn't have the kind of maturity an adult would have."

"I don't need you to mother me, Onna-san." I told her softly.

"I know. But that doesn't mean it won't help you. Mikoto isn't around to help you adjust to this world so I will stand in her place. I won't be your mother, but that doesn't mean I can't mother you." Onna stood up and plastered a smile across her lips. Again, Onna appeared older than she ever seemed.

"Let me see you model some of your new clothes!"

I paused, "Clothes?"

Turns out, Onna bought me actual clothes too. Onna was dead set on me wearing those short battle kimonos because she got me two more like the original. For civilian clothes she found a white sun dress, a red off the shoulder top, what looked like jeggins, and a blue female cut shirt. Onna made me model each outfit before making sure my underwear things all fit.

Onna is pretty good at planning by the way because I just chillin in her living room with panties and half a shirt on while she altered the shirt so that it fit perfectly. The door opened and Bu and Kyuketsu walked in along with a tall man that I didn't recognize. All three of them froze and Onna just kept doing what she was doing as if she was not exposing a young girl to three guys.

I threw the nearest object at them, which happened to be one of the books, and it clobbered a shocked Kyuketsu in the head. He stumbled back into Bu who stumbled back into the man. The man was rather composed and looked more amused than anything else.

"Oh is it time for our date already, Shouta-kun?" Onna inquired casually.

"I can wait, you're clearly doing something important." the man, Shouta, evenly replied. He took a seat after steadying Bu and Kyuketsu. When Bu and Kyuketsu eventually figured out what they were doing with their life they sprinted like they were being chased upstairs to Bu's room and I heard the door slam.

"Boys." Onna demurred quite happily.

My response to this was, "Mothers."

She laughed, pleased at that answer.

.

I expected there to be complications with Sasu's mission so when I was summoned to the hospital I wasn't as frantic as I could have been. Kakashi met me on my way as an escaped patient and informed me everyone was fine, Sasu just ended up with a concussion after getting his head slammed through a hollow tree trunk. That sounded rather awful and I agreed that sounded like a concussion. When I found Sasu's room I got the rundown on their mission from the entirety of Team Seven.

"Fushicho it was amazing!" Naruto was the first to begin when Sasu was too busy apologizing for getting hurt with his eyes, "We were bringing this guy to this little village when this crazy girl came out of the trees and tried to kill us! Sensei did this disappearing act while I saved the day-!"

Sakura cut him off, "Don't be stupid, Naruto!"

Sasu rolled his eyes, "Yeah, moron. What really happened is while Kakashi-sensei was observing, Naruto and I attacked the girl who came out of the trees. She redirected Naruto into me and Naruto's weight made me fall. After Naruto and I got up it turns out the girl was our clients granddaughter and she came to greet him but got scared when she saw us and thought we were doing something bad to her grandfather."

"No but-" Naruto tried to get another word in but Sakura denied him.

Sakura gushed, "And Sasuke-kun got his sharingan!"

"Oh?" I tilted my head to look at Sasu in curiosity.

Sasu looked embarrassed, "When we were on our way back we got attacked by bandits and I thought one of them was going to kill Naruto. I activated it when I blocked for him, the idiot. That's where the concussion came from."

I grinned maniacally, "Aw, you must really love him then to activate your sharingan over him!"

"Hn, shut up! I thought I was going to die too." Sasu barked back. For a moment I hardly caught the hard hn, but when I did I balked.

"Did you just hn?!" I demanded, remembering Kinoe's obsession.

Sasu snickered, "You do it too. You just don't realize it."

"What!?" I was scandelized.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah! You talk funny with your lisp sometimes and then you say hn like the teme!"

I looked between the three of them and my lip twitched, "I honestly feel so attacked right now. I came here to see my brother and now this is happening to me."

"Get over it. It's not like you care." Sasu told me fondly. Then it seemed like he finally realized what I was wearing.

Sasu inhaled, "Is that the battle kimono Onna-san got you?"

I nodded brightly, quite pleased Sasu looked very disgruntled suddenly. Sakura complimented the outfit while Naruto was amazed I wore something other than stolen shirts and shorts from my brother. For the rest of the visit Sasu looked murderous and I listened to Naruto give the rundown of how they helped solve some village Romeo and Juliet feud between the granddaughter that tried to kill them and her family's political rivals. It sounded very Team Seven so I listened and found it pretty amusing.

Sasu was cleared to go after a medic got around to making sure his concussion was healed. We split from Sakura and Naruto on our way home and Sasu kept giving me what I could only describe as dirty looks.

"Can I help you?" I demanded.

Sasu snorted, "Onna-san got you?"

I nodded, "Sasu, I have been scarred for life this week."

"Oh? Cooking is pretty scarring." Sasu said with fake sympathy. I shoved him in a friendly way and he snickered.

"If anyone is traumatized it's Bu. Onna-san made him eat everything that we couldn't finish. He was the poor overfilled garbage can." I relayed. Sasu looked very pleased and I swore I heard him mutter something about how that was a fitting punishment for Bu. I wasn't sure why Bu was being punished but I assumed it was some kind of guy rivalry the two occasionally got into.

When we reached the compound I paused and looked around. There was a chill in the air that was unfamiliar and caused the hair on my arms to rise up. Sasu, also getting goosebumps, stopped next to me. We scanned the tops of the buildings but we didn't see anything and the entire district, as always, was silent.

"We really need to do something about how creepy it is living in the district by ourselves." I broke the silence with.

Sasu agreed with a hn and I cracked a smile and chuckled. We continued into the district but both of us were clearly pretty creeped out. There wasn't anything we really could do though since we lived there and it was silly for two genin to go running because we're scared of the ghost town district. Our house wasn't too bad because it was straight down the main road and was only really a few blocks away from the gate. Despite us living here a ghost town like this was scary when you were feeling spooked already.

I'd like to say me and Sasu dodged because we're super cool ninja. But really we dodged on accident because Sasu dropped his scroll and bent down to pick it up. I leaned back to snicker about it and that's how the senbon carefully aimed for my neck missed. Immediately I flared my chakra and started to flash it in panic. Sasu did the same and my sharingan spun into place while Sasu took a moment to carefully get his to turn on.

Our attacker was fast but the sharingan was a hack. Sasu looked a bit disoriented after turning his on but I was pretty used to it by now and I had my emergency kunai in my hands. While I do complain about Onna's dumb battle kimono it was actually pretty practical since I could hide weapons up my sleeves, in the fold, or on a thigh holster. I would never tell her that though because then she would buy me more of them.

"Asshole!" I spat as the attacker suddenly engaged me and, faster than I could move, clothes lined Sasu. Technically it wasn't an actual clothes line, it was more he ridge handed Sasu right in the solar plexus. Regardless Sasu choked and had the wind knocked out of him. He stagged back against the wall and the attacker descended upon me. I like to think I'm pretty fast considering other genin's abysmal speed. I've also trained for so long that muscle memory controls some reflexes such as parrying a tanto with a kunai.

I stared at the ANBU mask in pure fear that I'm sure showed on my face.

"What-?" I started to ask but he front kicked me and I flew across the road and slammed into a wall. I exhaled to minimize the effect of the wind getting knocked out of me, rather it felt more like it was violently ripped out of me, and I pushed to my feet. The ANBU only sheathed his tanto and pulled out a seal tag. I vaguely caught the symbol for a knockout tag and suddenly my priority became don't get hit by that tag. I kind of wished I had gone to the academy full time because older kids could play tag with kawarimi and the game doubled as training for evading opponents. However I was glad that I did train under Kakashi because his speed training, along with Kinoe adding to my speed, was what was keeping me from getting knocked the fuck out.

Sasu was leaning against a wall flashing his chakra but no one seemed to notice yet. My game of tag with the ANBU lasted about half a minute before he got close enough where I instinctively reached out for natural chakra and sparked in his direction. The tag sadly did not catch fire but the ANBU did falter at the sudden flash of flames before they disappeared. I took this chance to kawarimi with a board by Sasu. I grabbed onto Sasu and hoped I could kawarimi with another person. I hadn't exactly tried it but what was the worst that could happen?

Now the good news is I reached out as far as I could to kawarimi and I made it to the other side of a building. The bad news is both me and Sasu proceeded to feel violently ill. Sasu just went right ahead and puked while I tilted back and forth for a moment before I was sobered up by the ANBU coming through the building at me. Like I mean this guy probably burst through a window then said fuck it and broke through the wall. I gaped as dust and wall exploded outwards and it felt like slow motion as the ANBU reached forward with that tag. I felt it pressed onto my forehead and I thought to myself, this is fucking awful.

Fushicho angrily screamed, "Like hell you're taking a nap!"

And in that split second the tag started to knock me out Fushicho kicked me right back into the world of the living. I stumbled but glared at the ANBU member who took one look at me ignoring his seal tag and decided brute force KO was the best way to go. I dodged a few hits before he clipped me pretty harshly and I probably joined Sasu in concussion land when he grabbed my neck and slammed me into the building.

Why me and not Sasu?

This was my thought as he went to go slam me again when I was still conscious.

Then we were saved by someone doing a flying kick into the ANBU's head. I thought it was Gai for a terrifying moment. But then I realized it was just Kinoe conserving his chakra and making a dramatic entrance. Following Kinoe as support was Kakashi and the ANBU probably took one look at the fight he was going to take and got the fuck out. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke and while a few more ANBU that had been right on Kakashi's trail split up to go after the rogue one, Kinoe knelt next to me.

"You okay, Hime?"

I squinted at Kinoe, seeing something a little bit off.

"Ne sensei, why are there two of you?"

Needless to say, Sasu and I went right back to the hospital with a few bruised ribs for Sasu and a concussion for me. I was pretty confused as they healed me up and right after Kinoe was done healing me, he grinned and promptly knocked me out so he wouldn't have to deal with my attitude or questions.

Asshole.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I'm kind of disappointed this chapter. The lack of reviews last chapter was... uninspiring. I don't want to sound like I'm begging for them but I thought last chapter was a great one to review. I expected a few comments like 'Called it!' to the Onna thing, and even a few commenting on domestic Fushicho or her breakdown or her being too dense to realize Bu was having troubles of his own due to his first kills. The lack of response was really underwhelming and kind of damaged my desire to write for Out of the Ashes for a few days.**

 **Anyway, off of whining! I finished the Kinoe portrait. Check out my deviantart to see how cute the team is. I think Kyuketsu came out stunning and Kinoe is definitely an improvement. He came out a bit tanner than I wanted him to be but the portrait was also a light source experiment sooooooo.**

 **Fun Fact : Fushicho likes Jiraiya as a character but not as a person.**

 **Thanks to Thomas Drovin for reviewing! (:**


	21. Lightning Strikes

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 21_

 _Lightning Strikes_

* * *

"Hime, you need to chill."

I glared at Kinoe from my hospital bed. See, as soon as I woke up after he knocked me out I made it my mission to make his morning hell. I proceeded to yell until Kinoe came in, horrified because he thought I was being kidnapped again, then I threw a book I found in the drawer next to my bed at him. Kinoe merely caught it and that led to him telling me to chill.

"You fucking knocked me out after I was attacked with a knockout tag, and then tell me to chill when I wake up screaming?" I demanded. How rude of him to think I wouldn't be mentally scarred.

Kinoe rolled his eyes, "You know very well I was the one who knocked you out with medical chakra. You went out calling me an asshole."

"That was out loud? Nice. Regardless, what the fuck was all that?! An ANBU?" I huffed, "What the fuck did an ANBU want with me?"

"I mean, it wasn't just you..." Kinoe lied, eyes shifting away from me. When he looked back and I was giving him a very unimpressed look he threw his hands up.

"Alright, it was you. You were the target." Kinoe groaned when I clearly wanted more of an explanation. Kinoe bent out of his chair and slapped his palm on the floor. His chakra crawled around the room with seals running up the walls. They flashed once and then Kinoe started talking.

"Don't freak out but the ANBU that had been sent after you was likely one of Danzo's Root operatives." Kinoe informed me gravely. I choked on air for a few seconds.

"Don't freak out? Danzo's been meddling since the massacre! Now he actually wants to kidnap me?" I cried.

Kinoe shushed me, "Don't tell anyone you know this. The cover everyone is being told is it was an outside party's attempt to kidnap the Uchiha-hime for her Uchiha blood."

I huffed and crossed my arms. Kinoe made sure I was calm before he lifted his seals. I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital yet because they wanted to keep a close eye on me and Sasu. Of course, it was really just them making sure there would be no further attempts on us and the hospital seemed like the best place to keep us. After all, Kinoe had fully healed me.

Later in the morning Bu and Kyuketsu visited. Bu handed me a basket that I started investigating immediately while Kyuketsu made a disappointed noise.

"Would have been much quieter if they actually took you." Kyuketsu, in his dry sense of humor, remarked. Bu gaped at him and I just shrugged while pulling my scarf out of the basket and making a face at it.

Kyuketsu hummed, "Well, next time someone tries to kidnap you kill them so there's an interesting story to hear when we're stuck visiting."

"How about I kill them and not end up in the hospital?" I suggested as I found not just my attempt at knitting a scarf but also neatly written instructions on how to sew a pillow with the appropriate materials inside the basket.

I looked at Bu and advised him, "Next time food would be a better get well gift."

"That was all my mom. Don't blame me." Bu huffed. He and Kyuketsu pulled the visitors chairs up to my bed and I put the basket on the side table for now. I wasn't good enough to be able to multitask while knitting yet. Bu and Kyuketsu made some small talk before getting down to the knitty gritty. First Bu complained about all the food he had been forced to eat for the past week and how finally it was over and he didn't have to force immense amounts of food down his throat. Then he complained about Shouta, his mom's boyfriend. Kyuketsu remarked Shouta seemed like a very well rounded individual and Bu told him to shove it.

Finally though Kyuketsu was the one who asked, "So what happened yesterday?"

"Sasu and I got attacked on our way through the district. Guy was insanely fast and he knocked Sasu out of the fight immediately. I dodged him and tried to kawarimi with Sasu but that made Sasu worse and I was pretty dizzy. The guy came after us again and tried to knock me out by slamming my head into a wall. Kinoe-sensei and others scared him off and then sensei knocked me out." I informed them easily.

Kyuketsu nodded, "We should train ourselves to be able to kawarimi with others. It's a useful skill."

Bu groaned, "Is training all you think about?"

Kyuketsu thought about it for a moment, "I enjoy synthesizing poisons as well."

"What do you like to do that isn't... deadly?" Bu questioned harshly after a few seconds of trying to find a way to word it. I leaned in as well, quite curious what his hobbies were.

"I enjoy reading. Particularly books on health and the human body." Kyuketsu informed us rather nonchalantly.

Bu fell forwards dramatically and placed his head on my bed, "Oh the horror. The boy doesn't know how to have fun!"

"Go teach him then." I suggested.

Bu snapped his fingers and rocketed upwards, "That's it! The festival is coming up!"

I blinked, "Do you mean the week long festival for the Chunin Exam finals?"

Bu nodded vigorously, "Think about it! We can play games and eat food and they might have fireworks! I hope they have fireworks."

"Joy. Explosions that don't smell bad." Kyuketsu droned. He looked rather unexcited considering we were discussing a festival. I thought this particular festival was actually really great. For exam contestants the finals usually meant training so they couldn't really enjoy the festivities if they weren't confident. However I had gone to this festival twice in my life as the exams bounced around and the exams had been here once when Momma was alive and took Sasu and I and another time when it was just Sasu and I.

Generally each night had something different. The main night was the one before the finals and that was when the village half transformed into a giant carnival. It was pretty great if I do say so myself. All it was missing was fairground rides. I would kill someone for a Ferris wheel, zipper or scrambler. Anything in that area really. I loved rides.

"But think of the romance possibilities!" Bu gasped suddenly. Kyuketsu and I shared looks this time. I was game for anything but that.

"What romance possibilities? You and your hand?" Kyuketsu asked. I snorted and grabbed my pillow to muffle my screaming laughter.

Noooooo. Pinch me. Kyuketsu did not just say that.

I wasn't sure if the context of that joke was what I thought it was but honestly, Kyuketsu would totally make that joke. And I'm pretty sure these guys were old enough to understand. I momentarily did math and almost choked when I realized they were older than me and they were actually turning fourteen soon. Well Bu was. Kyuketsu still had some time to go. Konoha had a generally warm climate with the coldest time being dead winter: late December and the entirety of January. Summer was unbearably hot as I've complained before. The Wave Mission was probably supposed to have taken place in spring yet we had gotten it towards the end of winter. Bu had an early birthday in May, followed by Kyuketsu in June and myself in July. Right now it was mid-ish late-ish February. So it was getting warmer but temperature would stay mild until Kyuketsu's birthday.

Back to reality.

"Uncalled for!" Bu yelped, "Seriously!"

I was in context! My life is complete. Honestly, I could have died again right then and there and not cared a single bit. I looked over the pillow at Bu's face, which happened to be red, and I had to bite the pillow. Kyuketsu even looked incredibly pleased with himself.

"Well what about you guys?" Bu sputtered, looking very disgruntled.

"Negative." Kyuketsu drawled. I didn't trust myself to speak so I just nodded with Kyuketsu.

Bu leaned back in his chair, "You guys are so boring."

"And you're easy." I told him. Bu looked scandalized I could possibly imply he was easy.

"I don't think you understand what that means, Fu." Bu whispered, looking absolutely mortified.

I grinned, "Oh I absolutely do."

Kyuketsu spoke up, probably just to pull one over on both Bu and I, "She's implying you would engage in intimate relations with-"

The door swung open and Kinoe, who had been leaning on the door listening in, fell in. He just stayed there on the floor for a few seconds while Kyuketsu finished what he was saying, "-anyone."

"Hime, you're so crude for a little girl who hasn't had her first-" and Kinoe only got so far before I threw the sharp tools inside the goodie basket of knitting and sewing He caught them as he stood up and he returned them to the basket.

"I can't believe you three. Aren't you young for this topic?" Kinoe complained before adding a pout, "I don't want three hormonal teenagers to deal with. Go back to being cute."

"Well, biologically speaking-" Kyuketsu didn't get any further because I threw my pillow at him while Bu cried, "Shut up!"

Kinoe just laughed, "I forgot you like reading medical texts. I mean, I guess physically you guys are mostly all ready for teenager things. Cute little Fu-chan is a bit behind though. Poor her. Actually, that's probably a good thing considering the female system."

I glared at him, "Can you not?" The room felt a bit colder and Bu scooted a bit away from me.

"Hey," Kinoe raised his hands up passively, "I just walked into this conversation. And put that killing intent away you little shit."

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway and Kinoe froze. He had this kind of 'Oh shit!' expression on his face and we all snickered as his misfortune. The Hokage himself, in all his glory, was watching us with hardly concealed amusement. The three elders behind him looked far less amused.

"That little shit is the heiress to the Uchiha clan, Kinoe-kun. Best watch your language." the Hokage chuckled. Danzo grumbled something to which the other two elders nodded in agreement.

"Hiruzen, surely you did not entrust the Uchiha heiress to Uzumaki-kun?" the female elder, Koharu I think her name is, demurred.

The Hokage hummed, "Is that an issue, Koharu?" Ha I was right!

The third elder, Homura, pushed up his glasses in annoyance, "He has never had a genin team before and has hardly left the village. He is not fit to be a sensei, especially considering his attitude!"

Kinoe looked wounded but he concealed it behind a shinobi poker face. I felt back but didn't say anything and clearly my teammates felt the same way. None of us wanted the attention drawn to us.

"I believe Kinoe-kun is the best fit for their sensei." the Hokage replied, a hardness in his voice that was just asking for trouble if anyone dared question his authority, "Fushicho-chan, Obu-kun and Kyuketsu-kun have grown admirably under his guidance."

Bu elbowed me and hissed, "Say something!"

"What do you want me to say?!" I retorted back lowly.

Bu shrugged, "Well they came to visit you, didn't they? Ask them what they want!"

Our little conversation must have been noticed by the Hokage because he asked me, "Is something the matter, Fushicho-chan?"

I froze, "Uh, no. I was just wondering why you were all here..."

He chuckled, "I came to personally assure you there will be no more attempts on you or your brother. Your attacker is gone." I assumed gone meant dead. From the looks on everyone elses faces, they also assumed that.

"Thank you, sir." I nodded my head to him, "How is my brother?"

"Healthy and safe. You two will be released tonight after being kept for observation." The hokage informed us cheerfully. I looked at Kinoe with narrowed eyes.

Kinoe rubbed the back of his head and tried to sound intellectual, "Concussions can cause lingering damage even with the most skilled healer's touch. To be sure nothing escaped our notice you should be observed for the next twenty-four hours after treatment."

The elders all excused themselves and after the door was shut and we sat in silence for a few minutes, Kinoe dropped onto my bed in relief. He used my shin as a pillow, although that probably wasn't very comfortable, and he looked up at the ceiling like it was going to fall down on us.

"I thought they were going to kill me with those glares." he whined after making sure the ceiling wasn't going to fall for a minute.

Bu pat his hair, "It's okay sensei, we'll protect you."

Kinoe snorted, "Good luck with that, Pinky."

.

I spent the rest of my day in the hospital working with the knitting on my scarf. Considering the fact no one visited me after my team I had plenty of time to make sure the scarf was long enough to be a scarf. In fact, it was a pretty good looking scarf if you ignored the crappy beginning. It was a nice shade of red and I fit it around my neck to make sure it was a good length before I finished it off. I wouldn't wear it often though because it was the same shade of red as my bandana and the scarf won over the bandana. Besides, the scarf would probably fall apart if I used it too much.

I was freed that night along with my brother. We walked through the village with ease until we reached the Uchiha district. As we walked along the walls I commented, "We should really do something about the district being so empty."

And it was true. Not only was there a lot of potential houses and shops collecting dust, but we were wide open to attack there. If we were both jonin then it wouldn't be a problem since we could handle ourselves against most opponents. However as two genin most kidnappers or assassins would be much stronger than us. It was just a terrible idea for us to live here. Of course the entire district has sentimental value and it would be awkward to see non-Uchiha living in it. The Uchiha fans that decorated the place would be taken down and things would change.

"What can we do? It belongs to our family." Sasu demurred.

I shrugged, "We can sell the houses."

"No." Sasu said firmly, "The district belongs to the Uchiha clan." Sasu was apparently far more sentimental than I was. Or perhaps he was just a true Uchiha. Either way, I wasn't going to argue too much. Of course I would argue for our safety and because I'm a stubborn asshole but really, I wasn't too set on a particular action.

I sighed, "We're the only Uchiha left. If we keep ourselves open like this then we might not wake up in the hospital next time."

"If there's a next time then we'll be prepared. Every day we get stronger and stronger." Sasu told me, very sure of himself.

"Alright, next time you can fight the masked guy and get your head cracked on a wall." I informed him dryly.

"Fine then, you'll feel your insides scramble when someone drags you through a horrible kaminari." Sasu retorted. That was a pretty good retort so I didn't give him another smartass response. When we reached the gate to the district Kyuketsu and Bu were leaning there. Bu was talking to Kyuketsu, quietly for once, and Kyuketsu looked like he was actually looking.

Who am I kidding? Kyuketsu was probably zoning out and thinking about his next method to cure my nightmares. Honestly, that kid.

"Oi, what are you guys lingering suspiciously for?" I called, throwing my voice.

As I hoped, Bu jumped into the air and immediately tried to explain how he was not lingering suspiciously and was just waiting for a friend. Then when he saw I was me he sighed in relief before yelling that I was so mean for doing that to him. Kyuketsu just snickered as Bu's misfortune.

Sasu groaned, "I just got rid of Naruto and now I have to listen to Bu?"

"Yep. Deal with it. I do." I laughed evilly. Bu and Kyuketsu fell in step beside Sasu and I. As we walked through the district Bu shivered. He looked at a few of the houses where screens were removed since they had been bloodstained. I recalled Bu walking me to the academy after the massacre and he witnessed some of the blood splatters that ANBU hadn't gotten rid of yet. To be honest, ANBU were shit cleaners and a lot of bloodstains were there for like a year or three before Sasu or I had the courage to venture into some of the buildings. The ANBU just made sure the blocks that led to our house were spotless from the outside so that we wouldn't be scarred for life walking through there.

Too late for that, by the way.

When we reached our house I invited Kyuketsu and Bu inside for tea while Sasu went to wash up and sleep. He didn't want anything to eat or drink because his stomach was still kind of iffy from my horrible last minute attempt at getting us the hell out of that fight. We sat down at the low table and sipped at fresh tea that I brewed with shitty tea bags.

"My mom would skin you if you served her this." Bu pointed out, not in a complaining way though.

I nodded, "Definitely."

"Bag tea is convenient. I would not ask for more." Kyuketsu added. I nodded in agreement. Surprisingly, Kyuketsu wasn't much of a tea person. He liked bag tea because it wasn't offensive when he chugged it to finish it faster. Bu took the longest to drink tea because his mother beat her ideas on manners into him. I kind of just drank it. I didn't sip on it or chug it. We were an even three it seemed.

"Ne, Fu. How do you two do it?" Bu questioned suddenly, looking into his tea like it would tell him the answer.

I was confused, "Do what?"

"Walk through here every day like it's nothing. It's just so lonely." Bu explained. I looked out the window.

"Yeah. It's pretty lonely. Sometimes I look out the window and expect to see something I remember from my childhood. Sometimes I think, was that just Tanaka who makes those yummy cookie things? Then I start to remember the smell and the taste, but then I remember that everyone is dead." I admitted, "I don't usually expect to remember anyone since it feels like they've been gone forever. But once in awhile I just remember."

"Ghosts, perhaps?" Kyuketsu pointed out, "Visages of their life repeating over and over again."

Bu looked offended and mortified, "Don't say shit like that to Fu! That's her clan you're talking about!"

"She doesn't care." Kyuketsu dismissed easily, gesturing to me. I just blinked and shrugged.

"Like I said. A long time." I demurred, "But thanks for trying to help, Bu."

Bu nodded and looked down into his tea. He took a long slow sip. When we all finished our tea I led them to the door and thanked them again for walking Sasu and I home. Kyuketsu started to leave without Bu and Bu looked kind of alarmed.

"What," I teased, "Scared of the ghost town?"

"No!" Bu insisted, "But... are you really okay living here?"

I shrugged, "I suggested to Sasu we sell some of the houses so that we aren't the only ones in the entire district but he doesn't agree. I don't really care about the ghost town part, per se. What's more concerning is if someone else tries to whisk us away backup isn't exactly next door. If I hadn't flared my chakra and bought us time then things would have gone a lot worse."

Bu looked down at his feet, "Kyuketsu and I wouldn't like that."

"I really wouldn't either." I demurred sarcastically.

He snorted, "I assumed."

Bu turned around and started down the steps but he paused again. He looked around the street and as if being summoned, one of the cats that Sasu made a bad habit of feeding shot across the road. Bu screamed and jumped in the air before putting a hand to his heart. He looked wildly at me.

"It was a cat, Bu."

"I know that! But whose cat?"

I snickered, "A wild cat, Bu. Sasu feeds them. They all probably live in one of the buildings that are missing screens."

Bu took a deep breath to calm himself, "That really scared me. Stupid Kyuketsu and his ghost idea."

I looked up and down the street, "I mean, if I have nightmares tonight you can blame him tomorrow."

"The nightmare part sucks but the blaming Kyuketsu art sounds great."

"Right?"

.

The next day went as expected. Bu antagonized Kyuketsu on causing my nightmares with his idea about ghosts haunting where I live. Kyuketsu didn't really care although he did give me some little bags of herbal teas he made himself that he swore would help knock me out peacefully. I wasn't sure I wanted to try them but figured it couldn't hurt. Also that morning was rather cold so I was able to wear my scarf. It got warmer as the day went on but I was definitely glad that I could wear my scarf for the morning at least.

Bu complimented it and Kyuketsu told me I would keep improving as I worked. When Kinoe showed up, rather normally for once, he asked me what I was wearing. That hit me right in the heart because I thought my scarf looked great but after Bu explained I learned how to knit when we were ignoring him for a week, Kinoe suddenly thought the scarf was the best thing ever. I have a feeling he was trying to flatter me for some reason.

Kinoe sat us all down and we got a very, very long lecture on the Chunin Exams. I honestly zoned out for awhile and got the abridged version from Kyuketsu later, since Kyuketsu always paid full attention. The basic gist of what Kinoe said was that we had to work together at all times. He also said that running was alright if the situation was dire but Bu scoffed at that and said, "If you have enough explosives then no situation can go wrong!"

That sounds like faulty logic to me.

Regardless, Kinoe also decided we could fit in one more C rank to practice for the Chunin Exams. Bu, Kyuketsu and I just kind of looked at each other like, "Are you serious? The exams are like a month away." and if we got a mission like the Wave one then we would be gone for at least two weeks. Kinoe didn't care about our protests so the next day we were all packed for a mission that involved guarding a traveling merchant. We just had to bring him to a village by the border.

Sounds simple, right?

"Uchiha Fushicho?" the merchants son, a boy our age-ish, said in a dreamy way that set off alarms in my mind, "As in the Uchiha-hime?"

Bu snickered and I aggressively elbowed him in the kidney. He made a noise similar to a dying cat and he moved to the other side of Kyuketsu to get away from me.

The son, a very bland looking boy with the equally bland name of Hiro, stuck to my side during that mission. While his father, a rather friendly man by the name of Jirou, chattered very happily to Kinoe all hours of the day, Hiro glued himself to me. I caught Kyuketsu laughing at me several times and Bu gave up trying to help me after the third day of traveling. By the end of the fourth day I was ready to kill the kid myself.

Kinoe was teaching us some helpful things on the mission. One of the things he taught us was how to sleep in trees. So now for the entire mission we were only allowed to sleep in trees and if we fell out he was not healing our bruises. Of course Kinoe got a kick out of watching us from his comfortable bedroll outside the clients tent. The father and son duo were rather well off and traveled with not only their cart with two horses, but also a very nice tent that I was debating trading my quiet for.

"I can't stand him." I hissed to Bu. Tonight we found a tree that had an oddly low dip in it that the three of us could huddle in. To Kinoe we probably looked like we were cuddling but really this was the most comfortable way to handle the situation. Normally you tied yourself to a branch to sleep but we were able to squeeze ourselves together to sleep in the dip. Really it fit two of us and that was fine when our watches started but Kinoe took first watch so we all had to force ourselves into this dip.

Bu's breath was hot on my face as he chuckled, "You looked like you were going to kill him when he felt your hair."

"I should have and called it muscle memory." I demurred.

"You would still be punished severely." Kyuketsu, on the other side of Bu, muttered.

"I think murder warrants severe punishment, yes." I agreed. Bu smothered his laughter but both Kyuketsu and I could feel him quivering. Sleeping next to someone was honestly a pain. Bu managed to control his laughter after about thirty seconds.

"At least we'll be there tomorrow night. Then we just have to make sure they're good for two days and we can book it back in time for some training!" Bu pumped his fists into the air.

"Good. Then we get beds. I'm tired of sleeping with you two."

Kyuketsu quipped, "That sounds dirty."

"I'll dirty your goddamn face." I retorted immediately. A rather weak comeback but still effective.

Bu snickered, "That sounds dirty too."

"How severe a punishment is murder?"

I was fucking serious too. Someone was dying and whether it was one of my teammates or Hiro was still up in the air.

.

The day we reached the town was the best day of that week. Honestly my team and I sprinted into the town and Hiro followed us, albeit much slower. Like so much slower he was pretty much a turtle.

"Civilization at last!" cried Bu.

I turned to Kinoe, "Sensei, I want my own bed!"

Kyuketsu agreed, "Bu is a cuddler and Fushicho and I are in agreement that we would like to not sleep near him again."

Kinoe looked at Jirou, rather embaressed we were acting this way, but Jirou just laughed. He looked over us fondly before nodding his head and pulling out a coin pouch. he tossed it to his son and winked, "Kids will be kids. Hi-kun, why don't you show your friends around the town? Maybe buy some lunch at that place you like here."

"Thank you father!" Hiro cried, hugging his father around the waist before excitedly wanting us to follow him.

The differences between a shinobi and a civilian was incredible. Hiro was thirteen like Bu and Kyuketsu, as I found out during his nonstop rambles. But civilian children acted like I expected a child to act. He had his moments where he had preteen grumpiness but overall was fun and energetic. Meanwhile, Kyuketsu, Bu and I were mature. We were quiet and calculating. While this kid still had a few years left to grow up, we had already learned how to begin being an adult. After all, we were technically counted as adults because of our hitai-ate. Not to say we could do things like buy alcohol or go into the porno section of the bookstore, but there was such a distinct difference between our thirteen and Hiro's thirteen.

Hiro ended up dragging us to a sweets store that we had very mixed feelings on. I thought they had excellent dango while Bu and Kyuketsu inhaled red bean mochi. Kyuketsu moved on to the green tea mochi while Bu stopped to have some tea. None of us were sweet addicts like I knew Ita had been, but we all could eat sweets. If you want the candy version of Naruto, just look at Kinoe. Honestly it's scary how much Kinoe is like Naruto.

Speaking of that, I wonder if Naruto tracked down Kinoe again? I hadn't heard anything from Sasu, Naruto himself or Kinoe, so I actually had no idea. I assumed after pushing them in motion Naruto wouldn't let him go. But I really had no way of keeping track of that without being obvious about it. No way did I want anyone to know I actually cared.

When we finished with the sweets we headed to the market where Hiro led us through like he knew the place like the back of his hand. He explained they often came to this town since it was basically on the border so they could sell things at a high price. I thought that made some sense so I accepted it. Kyuketsu had some questions about commercial benefits so as they started talking I observed a few stalls that sold some weird shit.

I was examining what looked like a stand that sold fake witch stuff like bats wings and magic charms and skulls when an older man called to me.

"Excuse me, miss. Could you help me?" the old man requested, wheezing a bit, "I see you have one of those ninja headbands. My back isn't what it used to be and I need help carrying a crate of things I would like to sell. I just can't lift the darn thing anymore."

"Sure." I agreed. I'm not a terrible person. I'm not Obito, who would go out of his way to help everyone in need. But I wasn't the kind of person who would leave a poor old man who needed help carrying something when I had nothing else to do. As I started to follow him Kyuketsu fell in step beside me.

"Bu is looking at fabric. His haggling ability is surprisingly astute." Kyuketsu informed me rather gleefully.

I blinked, "Why are you so happy?"

He held up a basket and when I looked inside I found, surprise, herbs. There were also a few assorted mushrooms which was pretty fascinating. I hadn't seem him play with those yet although I knew Bu used a few in some of his odor concoctions.

"Is this your friend, missy?" the old man asked conversationally as we trotted around to another busy street with residences on it. We walked up to one of the nicer homes and the old man showed us a box of what looked like antiques sitting on his porch.

The old man sighed, "The nice young man next door was helping me earlier but he had work. Thank you for helping me."

"It's no problem." I told him. I lifted the box and we started to walk back towards the square. Kyuketsu detoured into an alley and the old man and I followed. I was kind of concerned that Kyuketsu would get us horribly lost but it wasn't like we couldn't walk to the top of the buildings and find the giant outdoor market.

I started to chuckle and Kyuketsu and the old man looked at me oddly, "Sorry. I just thought that the market is so big and Bu, that's our friend sir, is probably running around looking for us."

"He'll live." was Kyuketsu's response.

The old man laughed, "He's probably distracted by a vendor. So many lovely things are for sale today."

Kyuketsu and I both agreed. The flare of chakra I felt above us came too quickly and too powerfully. I felt like my nerves were fried as the chakra used a shunshin to appear beside Kyuketsu. I turned and watched a dark skinned man slam the end of a kunai down into Kyuketsu's neck. Kyuketsu fell forwards and was completely unconscious. The old man was knocked out more carefully and the attacker caught him and laid him against the wall gently.

"Son of a-" I swore, reaching for my tanto but the man put a finger to his lips, "Shh, little Uchiha-hime. If you cooperate the old man and your friend here can live."

I appraised the man before me. He looked familiar but was wearing civilian clothing and had long white hair pulled into a ponytail. I pieced together who he was when I tasted his chakra and almost keeled over. His chakra felt like pure electricity and even just tasting it shook my system. If he touched me it would probably not feel very nice.

"You. You're the guy from that border post." I said slowly.

His golden eyes lit up, "You remember little ol'me? How sweet. Now, are you coming peacefully or am I killing the old man and your friend?"

I looked at Kyuketsu and found myself raising my hands. There was no way I could take the chance of him killing an innocent old man. But more importantly there was no way I could take the chance on losing one of my teammates.

"Excellent choice, Hime." the gold eyed man praised me. He lifted Kyuketsu over his shoulder and he led me carefully through the alleys until we were back by the old mans house. Apparently the nice young man the old man had been talking about was this guy. Well, or his other neighbor. But considering the coincidence I think not. It also explains why he was so gentle when knocking the old guy out.

The man closed the windows and tossed Kyuketsu onto the couch. First he tied up Kyuketsu and then he stepped forward towards me. As he got closer his chakra's pure intensity was too much and I started to step back. This continued until my back was against a wall. I needed the wall to hold me up when he was within touching distance. He stopped there and just leered at me.

"Such pretty eyes, little Hime. You haven't grown into them yet though." the man leaned forward, "Someone really wants you alive you know. A bounty is out on your head. Uchiha Fushicho, alive. But they didn't specify if they wanted your eyes. Perhaps I should take those for myself?"

"Maybe I should claim your bounty." I scoffed under my breath before I could stop myself. I was considerably nervous because there was a bounty for _me_ , and not my eyes.

The gold eyed man stepped back and laughed, "Good response. I take it you've seen my godly presence in a bingo book?"

"I don't remember much." I admitted, "Your name was something like, Kaito or Maito."

"Raito, good guesses though." Raito nodded with a vaguely impressed look on his face. Then fun time was over because he held up a rope and bound my arms and feet in several places.

"I wouldn't try burning these off either, Hime. They have metal inside so that will hurt you more than it would help you." Raito informed me as he tightened the double knot around my wrists. I rolled my eyes at him. How dare he remember that I tried to roast his arm off!

Raito shoved us into a bedroom where he closed the curtains and told me he'd give us a good jolt if either of us tried to move the curtain. Considering how unconscious Kyuketsu was I doubted he'd be up anytime soon so he wouldn't be causing trouble for awhile. Raito left after locking the window by busting its lock and then he locked the bedroom door.

I spent awhile trying to get the little file pick out of my shoe but I was tied so tightly in so many places I couldn't do anything to reach it. I struggled for awhile trying that and then I started trying to pick apart the rope I could reach. There was in fact metal wire in the rope so I had no hope of tearing that apart. I cater-pillared over to Kyuketsu and tried to wake him up but he had a very impressive bump on the back of his head that suggested even if he did get up he would probably have a concussion.

"This sucks." I groaned. I spent some more time trying to balance so I could stand up and bounce around the room. It took awhile before I did manage to get up and then I hopped around checking the walls, doors and windows. There wasn't anything useful though. The house was in good shape so I couldn't just bust us out either.

I sat down on the bed and strained my chakra to its limit to search for Kinoe and Bu. I found Bu's chakra first and he was just inside my furthest limit. His chakra was frantic and buzzing. He had probably been searching for us for awhile. I wanted to get his attention with a chakra flare but Bu wasn't that good of a sensor yet. Only Kinoe would be able to feel it and he wasn't within my range. Also, Raito would definitely feel my chakra flare and come in to fuck us up.

I heard a groan come from Kyuketsu and I waited until he pushed himself up while swearing about his head, "What happened?"

"Kidnapped." I said for explanation. Kyuketsu groaned again, either at that answer or his head. Perhaps even both.

Kyuketsu sat up into a sitting position and he leaned back against the wall, "Any ideas on how to get out?"

"Nothing. I'm seriously tied up so I can't break the window. Guys probably a high ranking jonin if I had to put a rank to him. There's no bad walls or cracks I could take advantage of. Door is locked. Window is busted." as I spoke I could see Kyuketsu observing the room while taking note of what I was saying. When I finished he observed the room a bit more before closing his eyes.

"We're fucked, in other words."

I shook my head, "I wouldn't say that."

"We're super fucked, then." Kyuketsu amended, "We're so fucked, Bu is fucked."

"Bu probably is fucked without us." I agreed. After all, he wasn't going to find much better friends than us.

"I guess that means we should get out of here. Come see if you can untie me and I'll summon an arachnid." Kyuketsu ordered. I muttered under my breath but hopped over to Kyuketsu and put my back to his. I fiddled with his ropes and dug through them. I was digging through them so casually that it took me a few minutes to realize that Kyuketsu's rope, while very thick and burly, didn't have metal wire wrapped into it.

I grinned, "I can totally get you out."

"Then do so." Kyuketsu huffed, "We don't have all day."

I reached for the natural chakra, very gently might I add because I only needed a little spark as compared to an actual flame, and focused on guiding it to spark against the rope. It took a few tries where Kyuketsu hissed from sparks hitting his wrist but otherwise the rope came off without much trouble.

"There's a tool in my shoe if you want to use it to cut the rest of your rope." I informed him, holding up my leg so that he could reach into my shoe and feel around for the tool. When he found it he started cutting off the ropes around his joints. As I watched him cut I was kind of mad I didn't have more tricks up my sleeve. Maybe if I had worn the nice clothes Onna had gotten me I would have been able to conceal more weapons and tools. It was something to consider for the future as my usual shorts and Uchiha shirt wasn't cutting it.

When he was free Kyuketsu tried to stand up but he wobbled for a second before leaning against the wall.

"That's not a good sign." he admitted to me, "Potential brain damage, likely a concussion but possibly worse."

"You're brain damaged enough as it is. Hurry up and summon your spider." I retorted. Kyuketsu rolled his eyes at me and bit his thumb. I blinked in confusion that I could see his mouth. Where was his bandana? He usually wore it around the lower half of his face.

Kyuketsu slammed it on the floor and fell to his knees as he hissed. His eyes rolled back into his head and he blacked out for a moment. He pushed himself up after hitting the ground though, apparently not fully unconscious.

"That's... not going to work." he admitted. I swore in response. Kyuketsu resigned himself to sitting against the wall and trying to break my bindings. As he worked I followed the sparking chakra around my range. He probably had a greater range than me as I knew he was keeping within sensing distance so that if we did escape he could catch us. But he occasionally left my range. A few times I felt Bu enter my range again and once I felt Kinoe, but otherwise no one was nearby.

"This sucks." I complained as Kyuketsu freed my hands and arms fully, "I can't even sense Bu or sensei most of the time."

Kyuketsu hummed, "Logically, you should escape when I'm done and come back after retrieving sensei and Bu."

I shook my head, "This guy is likely able to sense us since he left us alone."

Kyuketsu swore under his breath. I wasn't going to leave Kyuketsu to Raito but I couldn't just let us sit here either.

"How much do you weigh?" I demanded suddenly.

Kyuketsu looked away, "Why?"

"I'm going to carry you." I answered, "If I sense sensei we can make a run for him and he'll protect us."

"We'll never outrun our captor." Kyuketsu denied.

"Well, we're going to try. On my back, Kyu-Kyu."

He swore but complied. As I adjusted to his surprisingly heavy weight he muttered into my ear to never call him Kyu-Kyu again.

"No promises, Kyu-Kyu."

I'm surprised he didn't hit me. I made my move not when I felt Kinoe, but when I felt that Raito was on the opposite side of my range than Bu was. I assumed, if Bu was there maybe sensei was around? Regardless, I broke down the door with a good strong kick and started to book it through the house after detouring to find the weapons Raito confiscated from us. I was hardly outside the house when I felt Raito's chakra surge very angrily. Guess he noticed pretty quickly.

"Hold on, I'm going to roof hop!" I informed Kyuketsu rather abruptly as I realized Raito was a lot faster than I expected. It took effort to get me and Kyuketsu on a roof and as I started running and jumping across roofs I could feel Raito halving the distance between us. I didn't give up and I poured more and more chakra into my legs. I started causing damage to the roofs from the amount of chakra I was using to push off for a faster jump. Kyuketsu muttered something about how this wouldn't be good for our mission rank considering I was raining shingles down from roofs.

I stumbled when I was about half way to Bu. At that point I still wasn't able to feel Kinoe in Bu's vicinity and I had a heart stopping moment where I thought, what if Kinoe had searched the other side of the town for us? What if he was with the client and didn't even know we had been gone for a few hours? What if Bu was going to be our only hope?

A warped voice in my head cooed, "Your speed isn't so abysmal." It sounded like Fushicho but her tone was strange.

I replied in my head, "Do something! Help!"

"Can't. I'm too busy fighting something else. What the fuck is in your head, you psychopath?" Fushicho snarled and the connection died.

Very concerned now because Fushicho had never sounded so strained before, I poured enough chakra into my legs where I felt burning. Kyuketsu muttered something about how my body temperature was really heating up and he was starting to sweat, but I ignored him. He also said something about how I was leaving burns on the roofs where my feet hit and my sandals didn't look like they were in good shape. I ignored him again.

Raito was in yelling distance when we almost were to Bu.

"Give up, Hime! Your sensei isn't here to save you!"

Normally I would have replied to him with a good ol' fuck you, but I was far too concerned with the fact I was moving fast enough where I was probably not going to stick the landing. In fact, we hadn't gone over how to land from high speed or really bad falls yet. I wouldn't die if I slammed myself into a crater because chakra protection, but god damn was this going to hurt.

The last roof that was hiding Bu from me, I screamed out his name, "Bu you fucking idiot, catch!"

Bu, who had been asking a group of civilians something with a red bandana in hand, looked up and his eyes widened as I dropped Kyuketsu in his general direction. Kyuketsu cursed at me and Bu shot up to catch him. As I lost all Kyuketsu's weight I fell forwards and rolled, throwing roof shingles everywhere, along the top of the next roof. I bounced off the gutter at the end of that one and caught myself on the next roof. Raito barreled into me in the next second.

"Son of a-" I cried but Raito's hands wrapped around my throat and I was cut off with a choke.

"You just had to make this difficult, didn't you?" he hissed. His eyes were narrowed into slits and his chakra was visibly burning me away. A few sparks shot off his hair every so often and I struggled about to try and get his hands to go away. I tried to collapse his elbow since I wasn't as small a child as I was the last time I fought him. Raito didn't care and forcefully kneed into my chest.

I coughed and my head rocketed up. Raito slammed my head back down onto the roof and I felt it reverberate. Was the roof going to collapse with us on top of it? That would either be a good opportunity or a death sentence.

I heard Bu land on the roof to come to my rescue.

"Hey!" Bu yelled, "Fight me, bitch!"

Very disoriented, I wondered who taught this child these words. I vaguely knew I was to blame for my entire team's foul mouths, and if my brother ever cursed, he was also probably influenced by me. It was kind of nice being as disoriented as I was because my biggest concern was why this poor thirteen year old had as bad a mouth as me.

I was brought back to reality because Bu had tossed a stink bomb before alerting Raito to his presence. Raito was evidently so focused on throttling me he didn't notice Bu's bomb until it was too late.

"What is that smell?" Raito gagged, bringing his hands up to his nose and mouth in an attempt to save himself. Spoiler: you can't save yourself from Bu's stink bombs. It's literally impossible.

I bucked and wrapped my left arm and leg around his right leg. I pushed us to the side and managed the best reversal I had ever done in my life. Raito wasn't on my level though, he was way beyond it. So he pretty much chucked me off him like I weighed nothing. I stumbled off my feet and backwards off the roof when I tried to stick my landing. I hit the ground and decided that would be a very nice place for me to stay. Bu could handle it.

Bu in fact could handle it. Well, it was more like Raito couldn't handle the smell and Bu knew his stink radius. So Bu skirted along the outside of the radius while constantly dropping stink bombs to keep Raito occupied. It wasn't really a fight. It was more a very intelligent way of playing keep away and biding time. Eventually though Bu ran out of time to bide because Raito got really pissed off. So he exploded with electricity.

Bu kind of lit up for a moment, froze as if he were a sim who got electrocuted, then he fell over. He plopped off the roof and Raito hopped down next to me. I pushed myself up and growled at him, "Fuck you."

Raito laughed, but not in a funny way, more in a desperate murderous way. By the way, it's probably obvious but as soon as the fighting started in this area civilians ran away screaming for their lives. So there weren't any civilians in the way of any potential giant jutsu that one of us could pull off.

I wondered, what would win? My natural fire, or his lightning chakra? Either way, we both seemed to grab at our respective element at the same time. I felt the smoke gather in my nostrils and the flames tickle my throat. Fire was something strange. It was warm but it burned. I hated fire. Yet fire was what kept me alive in this world. Raito lifted his hand and pointed it towards me with a sick grin on his face. We both sparked and fire hit lightning.

Honestly, there was an explosion. Really the explosion wasn't from lightning hitting fire. No, the explosion was from both elements hitting the chemicals in the air from whatever Bu had been throwing around. Both of us got rocketed backwards and I had my fall broken by arms covered by a labcoat. I leaned back into the familiar feeling of cherry medicine chakra and Kinoe's chakra chains glowed around us.

"I don't like it when people pick on my cute little genin, Sparky." Kinoe, rather airly, remarked.

Raito growled, "Bring it on."

The fight was rather one sided as Raito had not only gone full speed across the entire town, but he had also gotten hit by several of Bu's concoctions and a chemical explosion. Kinoe didn't even need his arms for fighting because he had several chains available. So Kinoe just held me tightly and made sure to not let go. Raito was a fighter but he was also a survivor. He had fled once before from Kakashi and he did so again from Kinoe. One moment he was there and the next I could feel his chakra already several blocks away and moving further by the second.

Kinoe's chains melted away and I felt Kinoe's chakra wash through my body. My mind was cleared up as he most likely fixed my head and he hopped over to where Bu was alive but looking rather on the fried side. Bu's damage was mostly him being a bit twitchy after Kinoe was only able to heal the important parts because he still had to see Kyuketsu. Bu and I were left sitting against a building as Kinoe retrieved Kyuketsu, who was unconscious on a crate that Bu left him on, and healed his head to the best of his ability.

"You kids are trouble magnets." Kinoe complained as he leaned against the wall, "I'm a chakra monster and that took up almost three fourths of my charka."

"You still have more?" Bu cried a full second after Kinoe finished, "Heal me!"

"Suffer. You'll be sure to dodge a lightning attack next time, that's for sure." Kinoe retorted rather cruely. Bu whined for a moment and I sat up slowly.

"You're had a knack for head injuries lately. You should probably watch out for your head more." Kinoe warned me, then he turned to a waking Kyuketsu, "And you!... I don't actually know what to tell you."

Kyuketsu just made a shut up motion as he held his head and muttered under his breath. Kinoe managed to get all three of us irritated and injured preteens to the inn we were staying at. We were mostly all fine the following day although Kinoe had to heal my burned feet and buy me new shoes. He also kept an eye out in case Raito tried to make an attempt again. We didn't see hide nor hair of him though and the mission eventually wrapped up nicely. Hiro gave me a rather tearful goodbye, to which I awkwardly pat his head while he hugged me, and then we were off.

We returned to the village and training for the Chunin Exams began. Before we knew it, the exams would be here.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **This was mostly a filler chapter. I've been having very bad health related anxiety recently so I did a lot of writing for this chapter to keep my mind off things. Honestly, this could be TMI but I thought it was rather funny, I've been feeling very achy as if I were on my period and we were going over STDs in health class, and afterwards my anxious and traumatized self uttered the words, to my friends, "What if I'm the virgin Mary of STDs?" and that was probably the funniest thing I've ever said in my life. I should have Fushicho say that, that'd be pretty great.** **I am probably perfectly fine, if you're concerned. I'm just a very nervous and anxious person over health because of a family death that left me kind of traumatized. Okay. Very traumatized.**

 **Anyway, onwards!**

 **Fun Fact \- If I made Fushicho as a sim in Sims 3 (All expansions), her five adult traits would be: Brooding, Grumpy, Good Sense of Humor, Loner and Unlucky. Brooding and Grumpy are kind of similar so if you want another trait that could replace one of those, I would possibly add Snob or more preferred, Hot-Headed. I forgot about her horrible temper when I originally typed this. As for Hidden Traits, she would have the firefighter baby traits of Immune to Fire and Pyromaniac. **

**And thanks for so many reviews! I loved reading all of them. I've been trying to do PM replies but I usually only reply to like, two. I'm sorry ;-;**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **Guest  
4everfictional (x4)  
Shinoki  
FNK  
Thomas Drovin  
twinbuster2  
Ilikebob**


	22. First Meeting

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 22_

 _First Meeting_

* * *

The Chunin Exams came at us faster than expected. With each day my nightmares grew worse and at one point, Kinoe decided that he had enough of "looking at those distasteful bags under those pretty eyes" and did a medical exam on me. He couldn't find anything wrong in my actual brain though so that ended pretty quickly. He did fix the rest of the damage from my head injuries that he had initially left to heal on their own. So that was pretty nice.

A few days before the first exam, Kinoe showed up on my doorstep with an odd look on his face. He was trying to smile and be cheerful but was failing miserably. So with an oddly serious look, Kinoe sighed, "The Samsaras want to meet you."

"The Samsaras what." I thought I misheard. Did he mean the entire rest of the Samsaras in the village?

"You heard me, Hime. They all want to meet with you. We usually don't do big meetings so you'll only be meeting the ninja ones and the important civilian one." Kinoe informed me. He made me dress in my nice battle kimono and bring all my gear as if we were going to war. He made sure my hair looked good and was filling me in as we walked.

"You already know Aina, but you don't know Yamanaka Yasobu. He might want to mind walk you and if he does, let the real Fushicho go all out on him because he's an asshole. We're the only big clan Samsaras but there's also Tanaka Reiko, Kyouta, and Musaki. Those three are ANBU and they might be in their armor but they go by Bird, Rat, and Mole respectively."

I interrupted him, "What makes the Mole mask look like a Mole?" Mole sounded oddly specific compared to Bird, Cat, Dog, etc.

"It's more you learn the masks rather than they actually looking like what they are. There's both a Cat and a Panther and the paint is what differentiates them. Mole, in my opinion, looks more like a Hamster." Kinoe answered without looking too upset at my random interruption. Kinoe took a sharp turn through an alley and we took a back entrance into the Red Light district. I walked behind Kinoe as if he were my reason for my presence, which he was, and for the most part I wasn't looked at too harshly.

Kinoe continued to tell me about the Samsara we were meeting, "Morinobu Goku, don't laugh I know it's funny and ironic but the dude can't help what his mother named him, is pretty alright. Hugh is-"

I interrupted again, "Hugh? Like, English name Hugh?"

"Yes, like English Hugh. He renamed himself back to his original name. He's kind of weird. He's an orphan so they didn't really care." Kinoe kind of snickered, clearly remembering something. He swore as we reached a building, "Ah shit, I didn't get to tell you about Makoto. Well, they're a surprise."

"I'm concerned that you used they in referring to them."

"You should be." Kinoe told me with a traumatized look on his face.

Kinoe led me in through the back of the building and we ended up downstairs in a cellar. It was rather nice though with a warm color scheme despite the fact that I figured out we were inside a whorehouse. Kinoe sat me down on a couch and paced around the room until Aina arrived next.

"Yo, Matt, Veronica. We the first ones here?" the Hyuga asked as she took an arm chair and draped herself over it. She crossed her legs and grabbed a sake bottle from the table and smelled it. Then, apparently deciding it was good, she started to chug it.

"No, we've been here." a quiet voice spoke up. I jumped and reached out to sense the room. Three chakras sat in an alcove I hadn't noticed. They were sitting around a table with cards in their hands tucked close to their faces.

The three people there wore ANBU armor, so I figured they were Reiko, Kyouta, and Musaki. Don't feel too overwhelmed by the sudden drop of names, you learn them eventually and honestly all these people are pretty annoying and irrelevant. They just want to poke into my life because I'm Uchiha Fushicho. If you can only remember a few names just remember them as the ANBU. The important people you'll probably remember.

Reiko was the only female at the table with blonde hair in a traditional style. She was rather pretty with a womanly figure that was fighting with the ANBU armor. Kyouta and Musaki were nearly identical in appearance and I swore they had to be related. The only difference was Kyouta had black eyes and Musaki's were brown. They didn't say anything to us, too focused on their cards.

I focused on sensing them. Reiko felt like winter and her chakra was cold. I withdrew from her and when I felt both of the guys they had similar smells of gunpowder. Differentiating the two of them though was Musaki smelled like pine trees and Kyouta smelled like paper.

The door slammed and a man came down the stairs looking rather irritated. Following him was a cheerful much older man with white spikey hair. I don't think his hair was white like Jiraiya having white hair, more it turned white from age.

"Hello, Fushicho-chan! I'm Goku, you can go ahead and laugh." the older man informed me. I did laugh and he seemed pleased, settling down on the couch across from me. The man who had preceded him leaned against the wall and glared daggers at Aina.

"That asshole," Aina was the one to drawl while pointing the end of her sake bottle at the man against the wall, "Is Yasobu."

Kinoe snickered and muttered something of agreement under his breath. Yasobu, who looked a lot like Ino, glared at her before looking away. Now, when I say he looks like Ino, I mean this man could easily pass as a flat chested woman. I was kind of angry how pretty this man was.

Aina bickered at everyone at least once before the next person came down. This man was tall and had to duck when coming down the stairs. Considering I was child sized I gaped at him in a amazement.

"Yo. I'm Hugh." the giant told me, rather awkwardly. He sat next to Goku and Goku spoke with him quietly and fondly. Aina started to bicker at me and I retorted very hotly while we waited for the last person to arrive. I ignored Kinoe when he tapped my shoulder a few times and I regretted it immediately when I turned around and laid my eyes on Makoto.

There are many ways I would describe Makoto. Makoto is actually an awesome person and I think they're very nice. I actually really like Makoto. But that first time meeting Makoto, my mouth dropped. I could have collected flies. It took time to get used to Makoto. A lot of time. I avoided him for quite awhile after meeting him.

Makoto was a man. He had strong arms and a masculine face. His hair was green and cut in a short but feminine style. Purple makeup, and when I say makeup I mean he had purple eyeshadow, lipstick, mascara, blush, adorned his face. Big gold earrings hung from his ears and they looked painful. They looked really painful. These were the kind of earrings that probably weighed enough to tear his ear off.

"This cutie is the one everyone's afraid of?" Makoto asked, eyeing me through long purple eyelashes. I shivered.

I wanted to reply, maybe with a thank you for calling me cute? But instead I kind of just blubbed like a fish. Makoto pat my cheek, nodding sympathetically.

"I am a girl, Fushicho-chan. Mentally, anyway. I died a woman, but was reborn a man. Very awkward, yes?" Makoto informed me perkily. I looked at Kinoe for confirmation and he nodded at me sympathetically.

I nodded back to Makoto, "Uh yeah... I'm sorry?"

"Thank you." Makoto sniffed emotionally before he (She?) called the meeting to order. Turns out Makoto was the owner of this establishment and that was why he was the only civilian here. Otherwise we had the ANBU, Goku was a retired jonin while Hugh was a chunin, and then the clan members.

Of course immediately after calling the meeting to order, fighting started between Aina and Yasobu.

"I want to mind walk her." Yasobu challenged almost immediately, "We need to make sure she has no intentions of siding with Tobi and Madara."

I gaped at his audacity, and before Kinoe could jump to my rescue, Aina did (Although I think it's just because she wanted to argue with Yasobu), "Bullshit. They killed her family, she has no reason to side with them."

Kinoe agreed, "The Hime does care about Sasuke and she would not turn to Madara and Tobi."

"We need to be absolutely sure though." Yasobu stressed, giving me the evil eye, "She is an outlier. Her entire existence is already changing things!"

"But these things could make changes for the better." Goku pointed out gently, "I've seen Sasuke around. He's a much friendlier child than in the manga."

"You know the Law of Canon!" hissed Yasobu. Everyone seemed to flinch at that. Makoto pinched his nose while Aina snapped off the armrest of her chair. The three ANBU all looked very upset that Yasobu would bring that up and Kinoe had a somber expression matched by Goku and Hugh.

"Law of Canon?" I interrupted, confused.

Kinoe leaned over to whisper, "Remember when I said canon does whatever it can to fuck you over and get back on track? That's Law of Canon, as we've been calling it."

I kind of understood. Kind of. Vaguely.

I decided to try and retort to Yasobu, "Well what about the Butterfly Effect?"

"That makes things even worse." Yasobu retorted, "We had things under control until you were born. Everything would be fine and we would survive until after canon was finished."

"Spoiler alert," Aina said dryly, "They make a series about their kids. We aren't going to live past canon if they keep things going."

"Wait," I paused, "You're older than me but the way you're talking, you sound like you died around when I died." Because Boruto was just a movie when I died. What's this talk about a series!?

Aina grinned, "2020."

I gaped, "2016. You mean there is no connection on time?"

Kinoe grinned, "Roll call. When did everyone die. I'm 2003. Everyone had to fill me in for most of Shippuden."

I blinked, "How did you know how to get the hell out of Whirpool then?"

"Another Samsara and the name Uzumaki." Kinoe casually informed me. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"2001." Goku added somberly, sharing a nod with Kinoe.

Yasobu spat out a 2014, Makoto was 2007, the twins, who apparently died together, were both 2010, Reiko was, very surprisingly, 1999 which meant she was very pre-Shippuden, and Hugh was 2008. With so many numbers and names swimming in my head I was pretty conflicted.

Yasobu got us back on track though, "We need to make sure." That instigated a screaming match between him, Kinoe and Aina. The ANBU returned their attention to their cards and Goku appeared to be meditating. Hugh and Makoto's heads moved back and forth between the fighting trio like they were in a cartoon.

"Fushicho-chan, can Yasobu mind walk you?" Makoto asked when he got tired of Aina, Kinoe and Yasobu yelling at each other.

I thought about it but Fushicho whispered, "If you let him in here, I can _destroy_ him. He shouldn't get to see your thoughts. Your death. Your true self."

"It's not a good idea." I said firmly, "Besides, aren't we here to talk about the exams?"

"True." Goku murmured, stroking his beard, "It's worrisome that we won't be able to predict what Orochimaru will do."

"Fushicho is the obvious better target." Reiko spoke up quietly, "She is stronger than her brother and has trained formally for much longer."

The twins nodded together, but Musaki spoke with a surprisingly gravelly voice, "Orochimaru may have a thing for boys, but we agree."

"What are we going to do about Hiruzen?" questioned Hugh, "Are we going to keep him?"

"No." Reiko stated, "We need Tsunade. Hiruzen is old and his mind will start to slip by the time the war comes."

"Harsh." Kinoe sighed.

"Don't let your personal feelings get in the way, Matthew." Kyouta warned with a much smoother voice than his twin's.

Kinoe just groaned and leaned his head back. Aina, who had been quietly biding her thoughts, finally decided to input into the conversation.

"Shouldn't we be asking Fushicho what she's going to do?" Aina questioned, looking straight at me. I looked back at her and she smirked at the clearly displeased look in my eyes. While murmurs broke out around the room, Yasobu slammed his fist into the wall.

"Let me into her mind and we will know what she will do." Yasobu snarled firmly. He looked around for disagreement and I stood up when he started to approach me.

"Touch me," I snarled, "I dare you."

"Then what will you do, Fushicho-chan? What would you do if Sasuke received the curse mark? What would you do if Orochimaru chased after you?" Makoto, sounding rather wise in that moment, asked calmly.

Yasobu stopped and we both looked at Makoto angrily.

I crossed my arms and huffed, "How should I know? Orochimaru is terrifying. If he goes after Sasu, fine. If he comes after me, less fine but at least then we know Sasu won't be getting an angry Uchiha."

"The curse mark would change literally everything." Kinoe whispered, "If you got that mark... no, if Sasuke doesn't get that mark then how will we know the future? With Sasuke in the village Naruto's motivation will be led astray. The plot will be imbalanced. Who would die for that?"

The room went silent. I blinked, "Who would die?"

"Whenever one of us has changed something there has been a consequence." Reiko murmured sadly.

Goku sighed, "Even the most minor changes. If one of us fell in love with someone who had even the smallest destiny to influence the plot, there was a consequence. I married a woman. There was an incident where had I not been there, she would have been killed. The Uchiha clan would have been under fire for their patrols missing a murder. However I prevented it and she lived longer than she should have. She was killed brutally in front of me."

Reiko hummed miserably, "My younger sister. I fell in love with someone important to the plot. They returned the feelings. But if I had taken them away someone important would not have been born. My sister died in front of us and I never recovered. We broke up and he ended up with the correct woman."

I looked around and Yasobu towered over me.

"The only one who has yet to have the Law of Canon hit them is you, Uchiha Fushicho."

I gaped at him, "You can't possibly believe that just because there has been no proven incident that I haven't had it-"

"Bu and Kyuketsu. They would have been taken from you." Kinoe uttered softly, "Zabuza could have cleaved right through them. That lightning guy could have completely fried Bu. Yet they are still here despite us stealing that Wave missionn from Team Seven."

"This world is cruel to those of us who have been reborn into it. We do not belong, thus we may not touch what should come to be." Makoto stated firmly, "That is the rule we came to live by."

"Until you." Hugh whispered.

"Until you." agreed Aina.

I looked around and Yasobu, for the briefest moment, had a look of empathy in my eyes, but he immediately threw that away to say, "We must monitor you carefully because something you do could affect us. The world is ignoring you but we must tread carefully. You are our ally and our enemy."

"Do not call her an enemy." Kinoe growled. He crunched through the lollipop hanging out of his mouth and the stick slipped.

Yasobu laughed mercilessly, "Says the one who tried to steal away Hinata's mother for himself."

Chains erupted out of Kinoe's back so quickly I hardly reacted as Reiko and the twins got the hell out of the way and Makoto yelled for Kinoe to stop. Yasobu dodged them and the chains threw a table as they came to a stop before destroying the wall. Yasobu dove forward and slammed the palm of his hand against Kinoe's forehead and Kinoe dropped like sandbag. No one picked him up from the floor as his chains evaporated into the air.

Makoto pat his yukata as if the brief fight had dirtied it, "I suppose this meeting is over then. You know my rules."

"This is a special case-"

But Makoto cut Yasobu off, "My rules, Yasobu-kun. Everyone can leave now."

The three ANBU flickered away without a trace and Hugh and Goku bid polite goodbyes before using the stairs like normal people. Aina looked ebtween Yasobu, Kinoe and I before she laughed. The visible change came over her again as she politely thanked Makoto for hosting and she also used the stairs. I looked at Makoto warily.

"Well, Fushicho-chan. I hope you can carry your sensei." Makoto told me cheerfully, standing up and gesturing to the unconscious man. I gave him a very displeased look and I pulled Kinoe's arm over my shoulder and hauled him up.

"Fuck, he's laying off the candy after this." I huffed as I dragged him to the stairs. Yasobu watched us go with angry eyes.

I dropped Kinoe in an alley outside and figured it was fine to leave him there. He would wake up eventually and I was totally not carrying him through the Red Light district. So I hopped the wall that fenced in the Red Light district and started on my way home. Of course, we all know that I wasn't getting away from that meeting without someone starting shit with me. I think it something about my charming personality.

Honestly, Yasobu was probably a jonin. He dropped down in front of me and surged forward so fast my sharingan was just turning on when his hand clamped down on my face and I felt myself get ripped into my mind. I was not in the usual spot of my mind's dungeon. Countless doors led down a mysteriously lit hallway and Yasobu was running towards me. Behind him was Fushicho, laughing hysterically as she bit at his heels.

"You're in my domain!" she cackled. Fushicho played with him cruelly until he was within a few feet of me. He reached out for me.

Then her hands wrapped around his ankles and he lit up in flames. I stepped forward and Yasobu looked at me.

Yasobu in his last life had been a handsome boy with a goth appearance. Long dyed black hair with blonde roots showing through. Blue eyes. He clearly had a much better grip on his mind than I did because he didn't look like the monstrosity that I did.

"Oh shit, they didn't." he whispered in horror before the flames consumed him entirely.

"He's alive." Fushicho whispered in my ear, cold hands wrapping around my torso, "He deserved to burn like we did for entering our sacred mind. I just seared him out of us. Ne, that felt most wonderful, didn't it? AHAHAHAHA DIDN'T IT?"

Her hands went through me and Fushicho made a vaguely confused murmur. She looked down at us and let out the worst shriek I had ever heard in my life.

"Poisoned! We're poisoned! What happened to our mind?!" Fushicho screamed. She was ripped off my person and she flew backwards. The floor moved beneath me as I followed her while still standing in place. We were back at her cage and Fushicho was tossed through the door by the invisible force and slammed into the back of the cage. There was a tremor and the cage door closed slowly with the outline of a person standing against it after it was closed.

The outline looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. Then it brought a finger to its lips and there was the quiet breath of wind from its nonexistent lips.

There was a reason, I realized, that Fushicho was caged. If I ever opened that cage and gave her control of my body there was no telling what it could do to me as a person.

I was brought back to reality. I was still standing in the alleyway but Yasobu was puking into a dumpster. He looked up as me and his eyes looked so bloodshot I jumped back a bit. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and told me, "You're going to cause so many problems for so many people."

"What the hell?" I yelled, " _I'm_ going to cause problems? You just violated my mind!"

"You put me into something that I'm sure is an early version of Tsukuyomi. Is that how you died? Did you burn to death?" Yasobu demanded. He was shaking and his fingers were twitching.

I nodded and an angry sneer came across my face, "Try that again and you'll burn next."

Yasobu flickered away and I felt all my bravado evaporate like nothing. I fell sideways against a wall and slid down until I was curled up next to the dumpster. I gripped my knees tightly and leaned my forehead against them. I sniffled, feeling tears burn in my eyes. But I refused to cry and I blinked them away. As I stayed there, deep in thought, I didn't hear Fushicho say a single word to me.

.

Sasu and I drilled for the Chunin Exams together. It was rather intense because Sasu was determined to get his skill level closer to mine. He was getting there but I still had a few years of training on him so my muscle memory and general experience beat his greater body strength. Ocasionally Bu, Kyuketsu, or Naruto would join us for some fresh spars. Sasu and Bu especially liked going at it with each other and usually Kyuketsu had to play medic and treat them both for burns. Kyuketsu enjoyed that because he got to test out his salves that he made specially for Bu's explosives.

"It's inevitable we will be caught in his explosions." Kyuketsu explained, "Most notably you."

"Gee, thanks." I said dryly. It was what I got for being our close range fighter though. I was honestly lucky Bu was pretty good with his aim and general feel for his bombs radii. So far I had only gotten stuck in the stink zone and not a singe zone. I would probably be traumatized for days if I ever got caught in one of his explosions for real.

Sakura joined one of our final sessions before the exams. She looked rather frazzled and I wondered if I should maybe ask why. I decided I shouldn't, because Sakura didn't stop talking once you got her started, but she made eye contact with me. Kyuketsu got the hell out of there as soon as she turned to face me.

Sakura's eyes flickered towards where Bu, Naruto and Sasu were trying to beat the shit out of each other until someone cried uncle. So far Naruto lost part of his sleeve from Bu and Sasu had a black eye. Bu meanwhile was mostly untouched. Considering Bu had a year on both of them it was to be expected. Especially since our team was designed to be a powerhouse sweep team while Team Seven was a front-line team with a girl who was slated as a Genjutsu type. Bu simply had too much raw power that Sasu couldn't handle yet. I'm sure when we even out in our teenage years Sasu and Bu could take each other evenly but right now Bu could demolish them.

Speaking of demolishing, Bu ran away screaming when Kyuketsu joined the fighting. Kyuketsu was by far the scariest on our team. He never used his spiders during practice although occasionally a few small ones would fall out of his cloak and both Bu and I would flee because ew spiders. The scary part of Kyuketsu was he was precise and a quick thinker. I was the fastest on our team because Kakashi focused speed with me and I still trained my speed to this day, but Kyuketsu was better than me in perceiving. If Bu threw a punch at both of us at the same speed, Kyuketsu would be moving before I was. His reflexes were better than mine so despite the fact that I was faster Kyuketsu could land a hit on me if I didn't continuously move.

Sakura spoke after watching the game entirely change when Kyuketsu joined, "I'm... a bit upset, Fushicho-san."

"How come?" I asked, kind of begrudgingly. I didn't really want to have this conversation.

"Well, I didn't know Naruto and Sasuke-kun were practicing without me. I'm upset they wouldn't invite me to train with them." Sakura confessed, "We're supposed to be a team but it's like they don't even see me."

I pondered it for a moment and watched as Sasu nailed Naruto in the gut with a flying sidekick. Naruto flew into the trees and didn't appear again for a good few seconds. A thought hit me.

"Do you really want to practice like that with them?" I finally questioned, gesturing to where Naruto had disappeared, "I think they didn't invite you because they don't want to train like that with you. They probably don't want to hurt you."

"But you train with them like that!" Sakura insisted, "Sasu is always saying he's trying to catch up to you because he can only hit you when you let him."

"Bullshit." I scoffed, "My reaction time is pretty shit if I'm not using my sharingan to cheat. He can't catch me if I'm having a good day but he can definitely hit me good. That's to say, it's a lucky day if he does manage to win a spar against me. But that's not what we're talking about."

"What do you mean?" Sakura inquired softly. Her eyes were shining a bit and mentally I rolled my eyes. Was she really almost crying over this?

"It's not the skill level difference that has Sasu training with me. Or rather, he doesn't refuse to train with me for the reason he likely doesn't train with you." I said slowly before admitting, "I'm not very feminine, Sakura. Also I'm an asshole. Sasu relishes in the fact he can shut me up sometimes by punching me in the face. The whole time he has known you there's only one image you've given him, and that's girly Sakura. Long pink hair, dieting, screaming, focusing on him because you like him. You act like a dainty princess over a kunoichi, and that's why he won't give you the light of day."

Sakura started to cry. I rolled my eyes, "Stop crying. I'm not personally attacking you. I'm telling you what you asked. Go home, put your hair in a ponytail or something and stop wearing that dress thing. Also, your arms are like toothpicks. Look at my arms and tell me the difference."

I flexed and Sakura, through her tears, observed my arm. She held up her own arm and both were pretty thin considering we were twelve year old girls. But mine had chiseled lines from where work and training had strengthened me. My arm wasn't fatter than Sakura's and I certainly didn't look like a mini body builder.

Sakura sniffled, "You're so mean, Fushicho-san."

I gaped at her. I try and be nice for once in my life and I'm told I'm mean. What a shitty conversation.

"But, I guess you aren't wrong." Sakura conceded, "Kakashi-sensei always has me do less than Naruto and Sasuke-kun. When I try and keep up I feel like I'm going to faint."

"Eat more. Eat red meat too, that's good for strength." I hummed, thinking about what Onna and Kyuketsu tried drilling into my head. I suppose I remembered some of their lectures after all.

"I don't want to be fat though." Sakura whined and I shushed her and gestured to myself, "I eat more than Sasu does. I have thirds when he struggles to finish his seconds. Are you calling me fat?"

"No. No you're definitely not fat-"

We were cut off by Bu getting slammed into the ground at our feet. Kyuketsu had shoulder tossed him halfway across the field and I held up nine fingers. Kyuketsu nodded at his score. I refused to give the little bastard a ten even though he definitely just beat his record of how far he could throw Bu.

Bu wheezed, "Save me."

I nudged his head with my foot, "Get up fatty."

"So mean." Bu sighed, opening one eye slyly, "You eat more than me, chubby."

I wonder if Bu heard our conversation while he was getting beat around by Kyuketsu, or if that was his actual response. Either way, he should know better than to call a girl chubby.

I kicked him in the head and Bu yelped. I loomed over him threateningly, "You wanna say that again or do you want me to join the fight?"

"Bring it!" Bu jumped to his feet and faced me in a fighting stance. Both our eyes narrowed. Sakura looked a bit worried out of the corner of my eye and she screamed as I went to roundhouse kick Bu in the head. Bu came in close and I took us to the ground with my other leg catching Bu in the stomach as I flipped. I axe kicked Bu in the stomach and lunged forward to grapple him. Bu and I rolled around for a bit while Sakura stopped yelling. Eventually our serious fight got less serious and Bu and I went for a hair pull simultaneously.

"Son of a-" we both yelled, letting go and splitting apart to hold our heads. Tears gathered in both our eyes and I vaguely heard Kyuketsu call us morons from where he was being double teamed by Naruto and Sasu.

Sakura giggling caught my attention.

I nodded seriously, "See? Long hair is a problem."

And then I grabbed Bu's hair again and yanked.

"FUUUUU!"

* * *

 **AN:**

 **This was a fun chapter. Most of those Samsaras aren't very important. Aina, Yasobu, and Makoto are the important ones for now. The others will show up but Fushicho will always remark to them being a Samsara in case anyone forgets.**

 **Did anyone check out the portraits of Team Kinoe on my deviantart?**

 **Sometimes I forget Sakura exists. Fushicho is too antisocial to make friends with other girls yet but she tried to help Sakura out. I do have plans for Sakura, so I haven't completely and entirely forgotten her.**

 **Fun Fact \- If Bu were a Sim his traits would be Eccentric, Hopeless Romantic, Family Oriented, Artistic, and Natural Cook. He would have the Pyromaniac hidden trait. Bu was hard to find traits for because his personality just isn't made for the Sims. **

**Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **twinbuster2 (I do edit but I miss some errors.)  
Thomas Drovin  
Ilikebob  
Nenecchi  
lizyeh2000**


	23. Caffeine Start

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 23_

 _Caffeine Start_

* * *

The day of the first exam I was up all night. I tossed and turned because every time I closed my eyes nightmares would plague me. The result of this was me making a grand breakfast with no sleep. When Sasu woke up and came into the kitchen he stepped back in shock when he saw a full table.

"What is all this for?" Sasu questioned in amazement, reaching for a piece of toast and inhaling it.

"I was up all night. Figured I could make us a good breakfast to start the exam." I admitted. Sasu shook his head at me but started picking at the various dishes. A few he looked at oddly, because lets admit I'm not the perfect cook despite my recent improvements, and pushed away from him. I pouted at that but I didn't really want to touch that plate of eggs either. Something went horribly wrong somewhere and I don't know if the eggs were bad or if my attempts to add stuff to the pan to make it tastier was misguided, but the eggs were no longer eggs. They were an abomination.

We were halfway through breakfast when the backdoor opened and Bu shot in like a bullet, "GOOD MORNING FU!" Sasu looked slightly insulted he didn't get a greeting but he was more disgruntled Bu basically kicked open our door.

Kyuketsu followed after him at a slower pace with a shocked expression. He came to me and shook my shoulder gently, "He was awake when I got there." That was not something that happened. Ever.

I appraised Bu with apprehension and found he was vibrating in place. I made an educated guess, "Bu... how much caffeine and sugar have you had?"

Bu grinned, "My mom put some caffeine pills in coffee when she saw I was awake all night. Then she made me a nice breakfast."

"He's going to crash later but for now at least he's awake." I sighed. Kyuketsu narrowed his eyes at Bu.

"That is very unhealthy. Caffeine pills and coffee? Your body is too young for that." Kyuketsu nagged. Speaking of coffee, I wondered if we had any. That sounded pretty good, although I didn't know how exactly to make it without a coffee maker.

"Kyu-Kyu," Bu said very seriously, leaning so that he was almost nose to nose with Kyuketsu, "Right now I couldn't care any less. I feel great."

"You're going to feel like shit later." Kyuketsu demurred flatly.

"Don't care~" Bu sang, plopping down at the low table to make himself a plate.

"Didn't your mom feed you?" demanded Sasu as he grabbed the last of the fruit so that Bu wouldn't steal it. Sasu was also a tomato whore so for breakfast and lunch there were usually cherry tomatoes. Sasu started inhaling those to prevent Bu from eating them.

Bu stuck his tongue out at Sasu, "A man needs to eat, baby Sasu."

I started choking on toast. Kyuketsu pat my back as tears streamed out of my eyes and Sasu, mouth wide with a cherry tomato sitting innocently in the corner of his mouth waiting for death, gaped at Bu. I managed to get the toast to go down by chugging a glass of juice. I wiped my mouth when I was done and sighed in relief.

"I haven't laughed that hard in awhile." I sighed pleasantly.

Sasu looked at me like I had betrayed him, "Please take your friends and leave."

"That's fine with me." I smiled evilly, "You do all the dishes then."

Sasu realized his mistake when Bu sprinted out the back door and Kyuketsu followed with me almost hurdling the table to get my gear.

"Wait, I take that back-" Sasu tried but I was already turning the corner to flee out the front door. Sasu must have admit defeat because I didn't hear anything else as I met up with Kyuketsu and Bu outside the house.

Bu was looking a bit calmer but he was still shaking, "Who's ready for the first exam?!"

"You?" Kyuketsu questioned, looking a bit like he regret speaking to the hyperactive boy.

"Yes, but who else?" Bu retorted. We started to walk towards the district entrance.

"I suppose I am." Kyuketsu allowed, "And the Uchiha-hime?"

"Definitely." I grinned. The first exam after all, was the easiest. The Forest of Death however was taxing my mind. The first exam didn't start until noon so we went to our training grounds to stretch and generally prepare a plan of action. Kinoe did show up and give us a pep talk before he decided to give us individual consultations. First he led Bu off and they were loud enough Kyuketsu and I heard them discussing Bu's explosives. Then Kyuketsu and Kinoe were quiet so Bu and I heard nothing. We amused ourselves with shiritori until they got back.

Finally, Kinoe dragged me a bit further away than he did Bu and Kyuketsu.

"This is it, huh?" he murmured. We were both looking in the other's general direction but we weren't actually making eye contact.

"Yeah. What do you think is going to happen?" I asked him. Kinoe pondered the question for a few seconds.

"I think things will work out how they should. Whether that means it's Sasuke or you I wouldn't know. Hell, maybe you guys won't even make it to the second exam. What if the final question scares Pinky or Kyu-Kyu enough where they back out?" Kinoe ruffled my hair while I muttered under my breath that I would kill them if they did something stupid like that.

"Just don't get in over your head, you stubborn little brat. If you can, try to get your scrolls as quickly as possible and go to the tower. Don't go off and try to save Sasuke because if he does get the mark at least we know what to expect." Kinoe told me seriously. I scoffed at him and Kinoe smacked me upside the head gently.

Kinoe leaned down so he was eye level with me, "I'm serious. Do not go and purposely try to change things."

"Whatever happens, happens, sensei." I informed him. Kinoe rolled his eyes.

"Alright brat. Go get your teammates and head to the exam. Being early leaves a good impression on your examiners." Kinoe grinned, "Of course, Ibiki is a bit of a hardass regardless."

Kinoe walked me back to my team and wished us a final good luck. He pulled all of us into a huge bear hug that cracked all three of our backs. Then he dropped us and promptly poofed away after dropping lollipops in each of our pockets. Bu started nomming on his immediately while Kyuketsu rolled his eyes at the lollipop and pocketed it. We walked to the academy and didn't linger outside. As we climbed to the second floor I thought about something. Was I forgetting something?

Room 301 had a small crowd of students outside of it with two chunin blocking the door. I narrowed my eyes at the scene and I remembered what I had forgotten. Before Bu and Kyuketsu could move towards the door I pulled them back into the stairwell.

"That's not right." I hissed in their ears, "This is the second floor."

"Huh, now that you say it, 301 is a weird number to have on the second floor." Bu commented, nodding along in a daze. I was momentarily concerned that his caffeine was wearing off when Kyuketsu handed him his lollipop. Bu immediately started on it and we continued upwards with Kyuketsu praising my observation skills. Honestly though, I wouldn't have noticed a thing if I hadn't already known it was there. In fact, I almost forgot it was there. That did not bode well with me.

We made it to the actual 301 and took seats towards the middle. Bu immediately passed out on his desk with a thud that both me and Kyuketsu jumped at.

"Should we be concerned?" I questioned, prodding Bu's cheek with my pointer finger. He didn't even stir.

Kyuketsu observed his face and shrugged, "He'll survive."

We were one of the first teams to make it and there were the low murmur of conversation in the room. I started to doze off and I managed a light sleep until a familiar shrill voice woke me up. I was kind of disappointed because I was enjoying my nap but I was more interested in the plot that was unfolding before me.

My poor brother looked horribly disgruntled as Ino jumped on his back and laughed. Naruto took a step to the side as a vein throbbed on Sakura's forehead. I smirked and held my hands over my mouth so that no one would see my clear amusement. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch the rest of the Rookie Nine reunion because someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned and whatever I was going to say immediately died as I realized Kabuto had been the one to tap my shoulder. I would like to make something known right now. Kabuto as a character is a genuinely gross asshole. He's just as bad as Orochimaru in my eyes. But looking at Kabuto as a twelve year old girl whose hormones were getting ready to ruin her life, Kabuto was kind of handsome. His silver hair was really nice and he had a nice face shape. I would probably compare him to looking like what I imagine Yuka saw Kizami as from Corpse Party. Handsome and amiable until you realized he is a complete psychopath.

Totally don't think Kabuto is hot. Psh.

"Ah... sorry, can I help you?" I murmured, "Just woke up from a nap."

Kabuto pushed his glasses up and smiled, "I saw. Sorry to bother you, but you're Uchiha Fushicho, right?"

I nodded, "That's me."

He held up a stack of cards and gestured to the Rookie Nine, "Your brother is part of that loud group. I was about to go over and give them advice but thought you might need it too."

"You calling me a rookie?" I asked with a smirk I didn't really need Kabuto's cards and I was sure he had some ulterior motive to talking to me, "These are my first exams but I'm no rookie."

"I didn't mean to offend you-" Kabuto began but I shook my head, "Go give the rookies advice. They are being rather obnoxiously loud."

"They really are." whined Bu without lifting his face off the desk, "I was trying to sleep."

"Oh, back from the dead are we?" Kyuketsu remarked, poking Bu's cheek. Bu sputtered and sat up, slapping the offending digit away from him.

Kabuto took this as his cue to leave and I watched him go. I put my head down and sighed in relief. That was a rather jarring experience. How dare someone I hate so much have such a pleasant face to look at?

"To think the Uchiha-hime does recognize the opposite sex." Kyuketsu commented. I sputtered and Bu wheeled backwards in shock.

I shifted so that I could glare at Kyuketsu, "You can go fuck yourself, Kyu-Kyu."

Kyuketsu glared at me while Bu put a hand to his heart, "False alarm?"

"Definitely." I assured him while Kyuketsu shook his head at him. Ibiki made his presence known as I smacked Kyuketsu upside the head so hard a few of the genin around us looked shocked.

Now, I know everyone knows the start to the Chunin Exams. So I'm not going to bore you with the usual play-by-play. Ibiki is scary looking, yes, and his face is just as you would expect it to be.

Next order of business.

The exams started and I was placed in the last row next to generic looking people. The exam was passed out and when we all flipped it over I skimmed the questions to see if there were any that were worth me expending energy on answering.

The questions weren't that difficult, to be honest. Math was easy considering I was a Samsara and I actually enjoyed code cracking so that only took a few minutes. The really difficult ones were the latter half of the questions. Five, six, seven, eight and nine were considerably challenging. In fact, I couldn't answer them at all. They had strange math I had never seen before, meaning it was something these kids would have never seen in their lives. Eight was a question on something involving the body or medical Jutsu. Nine asked a philosophical question about the bonds between teammates.

I activated my sharingan and stared into the distance to see what everyone else was writing down. Sakura was completely done as far as I could see but she was biting her nails and fidgeting, likely nervous about Naruto. Sasu meanwhile was actually trying to project a genjutsu onto Naruto but Naruto either wasn't feeling it or Sasu hasn't worked genjutsu enough to be able to help in this situation.

I copied answers from someone who looked like a chunin plant and looked around to see what Bu and Kyuketsu we doing. Bu and Sakura were beacons in the room with their hair colors so I found Bu pretty easily. Bu was definitely feeling nervous, his chakra was bouncing around and he looked a bit sweaty. However he had some answers on his paper and that was good enough for me. Bu didn't have any good ways to cheat so he might finish the test without cheating.

I had to search for Kyuketsu's chakra but I was so familiar with it that I located him easily. I had to wait before I could see him because he was further away and people were blocking me. Eventually people moved until I got a look at Kyuketsu's test. It was filled out completely and in detail with not a single answer incomplete. What was worse, or better depending on how you're judging him, was that these answers were not the ones you got by cheating. That meant Kyuketsu somehow knew the answers to every question.

I looked down at my own paper. I answered the math ones with formulas from my first life and I erased them because they were still in English. As I skimmed Kyuketsu's paper he definitely had some formulas written down but they were in Japanese and I honestly had no idea what they were. I decided I didn't really care too much though, Kyuketsu could be smart on his own, and I put my head back down for a nice nap.

The tenth question woke me up from my nap and as I skimmed the room I found it much emptier than when I had gone to sleep. I ignored Ibiki's ramblings and watched to see how Kyuketsu and Bu took the news. Bu looked frazzled and Kyuketsu looked confident. Of course Kyuketsu was apparently some kind of computer if you looked at his test and Bu was... Bu. Bu was pretty smart if you ignored his oddness. Meanwhile I knew what the tenth question really was.

Bu looked at Kyuketsu and I when everyone was panicking and I gave him a thumbs up. Kyuketsu never turned around to look at me or Bu and I rolled my eyes about that. Stubborn asshole. Naruto did his thing and the first exam was over as quickly as it started. Anko burst into the room and announced herself as the second proctor. A few of the remaining genin looked put off by her clothing while a few older ones looked positively gleeful about it. I myself was confused on how she could move around like she was without an obvious chest binder. Was chakra the secret? We may never know. Her mesh iron shirt was over a thin body suit so it didn't look like she had a binder on but I could have been wrong.

We were let go after Anko led us to the Forest of Death and told us we would be meeting here early tomorrow for her exam. Bu, Kyuketsu and I went to celebrate at a restaurant.

"I was so worried." Bu confessed as he slurped up his miso soup, "But then I saw Fu give me a thumbs up and everything was fine."

"She wasn't an asshole for once? Huh." Kyuketsu, very blandly, commented. He was quietly having his miso soup.

I had already finished my soup because I really liked miso soup, "I can be nice."

Both of them looked at me, "You? Nice?"

I wilted, "You guys were in unison for that."

"You're usually pretty... aloof." Bu muttered, trying to find a word to describe me without being insulting.

Kyuketsu snorted, "Aloof? Maybe. More so surly."

"I am not that bad." I insisted, "I tried to help Sakura the other day."

"Oh? How did that go?" Kyuketsu questioned, "I recall her calling you mean."

I decided it would be best to make a tactical surrender and I dropped my head to the table. Bu pat my head reassuringly, "Don't worry Fu. You aren't always an asshole. Just most of the time."

I didn't pick my head up until the sushi arrived.

.

That night Sasu and I made sure the other had all the materials they would need for the forest of death.

"If you need help during the exam-" Sasu began and I scoffed. He blushed when he realized exactly who he was talking to.

"Me? Need help? Sasu, if anyone needs help it's your team. You and Naruto together can hardly touch Bu. My team will be perfectly fine." I informed him. Sasu nodded in agreement.

"We do need help." he sighed. He pushed his glasses up in irritation. I giggled because he looked like such a nerd doing that. Usually Sasu forgot he had his glasses so he wasn't much of a glasses-kun type. But sometimes he did the typical irritated glasses thing.

"Yeah. Stupid thought. Doesn't mean I can't worry though, sis." Sasu replied, a small smile tugging at his lips. I grinned back at him. We had a nice dinner with lots of tomato for Sasu and some other stuff for me. I didn't really have much of a favorite food because my taste buds were still crap. I just learned to inhale food quickly and ignore the tastes as best as possible. Sasu hated it when I overspiced things which I usually did for my own good.

Anyway, we took a long bath afterwards because we were going to be in that forest for a potential five days. Sasu and I had a light discussion on what we thought would happen in the forest. Sasu was sure that Sakura would have a panic attack from all the gross things.

"She needs time." I told him after feeling kind of bad for the girl that his opinion of her was that low.

Sasu rolled his eyes, "She acts like a civilian."

"She may act like a civilian but she won't always be that way. In fact, I bet she's going to be pretty strong some day." I said sagely, nodding my head when Sasu looked at me skeptically. I hope you know I intentionally worded it to be strong instead of something like powerful. I want Sasu to gape in aw the day Sakura smashes open the ground with her fists. Also, sibling bets. Best thing ever when you know the future.

Sasu laughed, "Sure I'll take that bet. Loser has to... what should the loser do?"

"Let's just call it owe the winner until we find a winner. Give the girl a few years. Not everyone is like us you know. Sakura has both parents who love her very much and support her fully. We have a dead clan and an estranged brother." I explained carefully.

Sasu sunk into the water a bit, "You say estranged like he didn't murder everyone."

"I think it's physically impossible that he murdered everyone." I retorted, "He's a murderer, yes, but you and I are going to be murderers someday too."

"That's a way to put it. But one day, Shicho, I am going to find that man. And I'm going to force him to tell me everything." Sasu promised, "And I'll tell you what I learn."

I scoffed, "As if I wouldn't be right there next to you."

Sasu smiled.

.

I slept kind of alright the night before the second exam. Fushicho hadn't bothered me for awhile which was odd. She usually liked pissing me off in my dreams but ever since Yasobu she mostly kept to herself. I woke up that morning feeling pretty damn good and ready for some fighting. I made a normal breakfast for Sasu and I and by the time Bu and Kyuketsu walked in Sasu and I were washing dishes.

Kyuketsu nodded in approval, "On time today."

"No food?" Bu was disappointed.

"Your mother fed you this morning, didn't she?" barked Sasu, "Stop coming to our house for more!"

I rolled my eyes, "Leave Bu alone. He appreciates my cooking."

"Actually," Kyuketsu spoke up with a glimmer in his eyes, "Onna-san put him on a strict, specific diet for the chunin exams. He is being fed well, but his only source of sweets is if she deems him worthy of sugar to give him energy."

Bu looked like a deer caught in headlights when I turned to look at him. I glared, "No food for you since you're not on my side."

Bu stammered, "I mean, your food is good it's just-"

"No food for you." Sasu repeated, grinning evilly, "You heard her."

Kyuketsu snickered when Bu pouted at us. We all left together until Sasu split away from us to go to Naruto's and make sure he was awake and ready for the second exam. Kinoe wasn't actually supposed to see us in between exams so we weren't confronted by that particular weirdo. We were confronted by Bu's mother though.

Onna landed in front of us and quickly forced scrolls into each of our hands saying they had nice bentos for five days for each of us and she leaned in and snuck a second scroll into my bag, hissing, "Lady supplies."

"I don't need those!" I insisted, also quietly. Onna just laughed, winked at me, and left in a shunshin. Kyuketsu and I shared bewildered looks while Bu looked completely used to his mother doing things like that. I wasn't sure how you got used to a hurricane coming out of nowhere but whatever. Onna was a nice person, just very odd. Every shinobi had something weird going on, or so many people believed, but some were more obvious. Kakashi and his mask or Gai and Lee for example.

Shinobi were special regardless if they acted that way.

Bu wanted to buy a second breakfast on the way to the exam but Kyuketsu and I dragged him down the street. There was no way we were waiting for his slow gluttonous ass to choose what he wanted to eat. We arrived at the grounds and a few good lucks passed between the teams that knew each other. Everyone collected their scrolls and when it was our turn to collect our scrolls we did so quietly.

The woman handing out the scrolls and writing things down seemed to be very bored. Yet she still appraised us carefully and looked over all our paperwork. No wonder it took so long to get scrolls. For me I signed all the paperwork myself as I was marked as an adult and fully treated as one. Kyuketsu and Bu, while they technically were adults on paper, still needed their guardians to sign for them. Onna signed for Bu and Kyuketsu took his paperwork to the Aburame clan head prior to the exams.

That paperwork started a short argument where Sasu and I bickered on who was technically older and who should sign as clan head. We both signed our own paperwork after the argument but Sasu and I still were ready to argue over who was older, even if the difference was by minutes. I actually think Sasu is older because I vaguely recall him being pushed out first, but I was mentally older and ready to fight for it until there was actual proof I was younger. There's also the argument that I was regarded as an adult far before Sasu and I had an apprenticeship under Kakashi.

Anyway, the woman finished looking over our paperwork and handed over a heaven scroll. We decided that I was going to hold onto it so I sealed it into the scroll with Onna's lady products (Had she planned on me using the scroll for this?). I even took care to label it as feminine hygiene so that if anyone did try and search me for the scroll they would hopefully be a teenage boy who would want nothing to do with that scroll.

I gave Sasu a hug before my team and I separated to go to our gate. A proctor stood off to the side of it looking ready for a nap. Bu, Kyuketsu and I talked among ourselves until there was a buzzing sound and we watched the gates push inwards.

We sprang forward with not even an ounce of planning.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **What do you think is going to happen in the Forest of Death? Next chapter is finished and LONG. And exciting.**

 **Fun Fact \- If Kyuketsu was a Sim in Sims 3 his traits would be: Eco-Friendly, Perfectionist, Loner, Gatherer, and Neurotic. Kyuketsu may not seem very Neurotic at first, but his obsession with health is based off his worries in that area. He's also the kind of person to be incredibly paranoid and anxious over simple things that worry only him and no one else.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

 **DarkestChasm (8x)  
Guest  
ClaireChiodos  
neopolitanteamrwby  
KAYKAY22PRINCESS  
Thomas Drovin  
twinbuster22  
girl-luvs-manga**


	24. Leeches, Snakes and Spiders

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 24_

 _Leeches, Snakes, and Spiders_

* * *

The Forest of Death looked exactly as you would expect it to. The anime did it justice because it was dark and pretty dank with creepy crawlies everywhere. Kyuketsu so far had probably saved Bu and I's asses about a dozen times because we didn't notice some kind of deadly leech or bug or animal and Kyuketsu, who was all about this kind of shit, knew what these things were. The Forest of Death was annoying in that you couldn't really tell what time it was if you didn't expend a load of chakra to climb to the top branches of the trees to see the sky.

My heart was racing as we jogged through the forest. Bu and I were really not having a good time. Kyuketsu was on alert and kept directing us in a different path away from these crazy large black leeches. Considering Kyuketsu wasn't letting them touch Bu, because that would be a hysterical sight, it was safe to assume they did some kind of damage through touch. I was trying my hardest to recall everything I could about the Forest of Death episodes of Naruto. But so much was unclear. Orochimaru went after them day one, right? And Sasuke and Naruto were out for a day? Then they do stuff for the next few days until the final day where they end up at the tower? But what time did Orochimaru attack them? I was concerned, to say the least.

"Fuck!" I yelped as a leech almost dropped onto my head and I narrowly got the hell out of the way.

Kyuketsu shushed me, "Do not yell. It'll agitate predators."

"The predators will agitate me." I grumbled. Bu stifled his snickers and Kyuketsu threw a dirty look at me.

As we kept moving it felt like the leeches were growing in numbers and we moved into the trees and off the ground.

"Kyuketsu, should we be concerned their numbers are growing?" I questioned as we detoured away from a tree covered in leeches.

Kyuketsu stopped on a branch and eyed the tree we had detoured away from. It started to move suddenly and Bu's mouth dropped, as did mine, as what looked like black slime poured from the bark. The leeches started to come together and Bu and I looked at Kyuketsu in panic.

Kyuketsu nodded solemnly, "Bog leech. A giant mass that can split its body into hundreds to thousands of conscious masses."

"So you're telling me, this thing, is all those leeches we've been running into!?" wheezed Bu, looking considerably paler than usual.

"Correct. We should run." and Kyuketsu took off. Bu and I shot after him and we stopped caring if we stepped on a leech because we really did not want to stick around while that thing formed itself into a boss fight. We sprinted like mad for about fifteen minutes before Kyuketsu stopped us at a stream and we cooled off for a moment.

Bu eyed me, "Fu, you're sweating like crazy."

"I'm hot." I retorted, leaning backwards on the rock I claimed as my chair.

"Do you recall burning the roofs running in Kunoyiba?" Kyuketsu questioned. I stared blankly at him for a moment before I realized what Kunoyiba was. Spoiler: it's the town Raito fought us in.

I nodded slowly, "I suppose."

"Your Natural Fire is a gift. Train it." Kyuketsu ordered seriously. I blinked at him and he gestured to Bu who leaned away, "Consider Bu. He rarely uses his Katon jutsu during fights because he is still training his reserves and they drain him quickly. You however don't seem to expel much, if any, chakra to use your Natural Fire. It is a great asset to your style."

"It doesn't usually hurt you either." Bu piped up and Kyuketsu shot him a dirty look. Bu returned the look before he nodded and continued, "Yeah, I know you're afraid of fire Fu. But the only thing that is usually damaged is your clothes when you get angry enough where you light things around you. Even when you try and breath fire it doesn't burn you."

"It still hurts." I retorted, "Fire coming up your throat is a bitch."

"But there are no lasting burns." Kyuketsu concluded, "Utilize the tools you have."

I rolled my eyes at him. We left that spot and continued moving. We ran into the last people I wanted to run into about half an hour later, at least what felt like half an hour. Well, Gaara's team I suppose wasn't the last people I wanted to run into. I preferred him to Orochimaru.

We stood in a clearing with our teams facing each other. Temari and Kankuro squinted at me, recognized me, suddenly looked sorry for me, but didn't say anything. Gaara looked over us and the clearing was silent.

"I'd uh, rather not fight." I said slowly and Bu gave me a questionable look and I shook my head at him. Kyuketsu, clearly sensing something off about Gaara, trusted my judgement.

Gaara's sand lifted in the wind and my mind went through several quick shitty plans. Eventually, I came up with this: Can my fire turn Gaara's sand to glass?

I probably looked incredibly badass because I didn't actually want Gaara to fight me. I wanted Gaara to acknowledge I was cool too since I could control fire majestically like he could his sand and maybe, hopefully, but unlikely, leave. So I threw my left arm out and widened my legs into a cooler stance than just standing there. I did something I had never done before, which was I tried to multitask what I was focusing in regards to chakra. I wanted to swirl flames around my feet and left arm. The left arm thing didn't work in the slightest although my fist started to smoke. Most of my attention was admittedly on trying to do a cool fire circle at my feet and I managed one, although it wasn't very big. It was pretty close and it just wrapped around my legs, barely skimming me.

I pretended I wasn't terrified by the fire around my legs and I took my smoking hand and pointed at Gaara, "Seriously. Lets not do this."

"Gaara, we already have enough scrolls. This is a pointless fight when we could make it to the tower faster." Kankuro tried rather quietly, although Gaara probably hardly heard him from how hard he was staring at me. I grabbed at more of the chakra in the air and the flames grew a bit, now licking my skin and heating me up. I felt a bead of sweat forming on my brow but I looked at Gaara, unafraid. By unafraid I meant my body wouldn't move and my face was tensed in concentration so that I didn't look afraid.

Without a word Gaara turned around and walked out of the clearing. Temari and Kankuro looked completely flabbergasted he actually left us while I immediately pulled away from the nature chakra and the flames at my feet died down and left a burnt circle on the grass. Temari and Kankuro scurried after Gaara and I leaned against a tree with a hand against my heart. I thought I was going to have a heart attack right then and there.

Kyuketsu regarded me with an amused and triumphant smirk, "Your Natural Fire is a useful tool, yes?"

"I'll shove a useful tool up your ass, Kyu-Kyu."

.

We moved on after Kyuketsu explained to Bu that Gaara was incredibly off and I explained his chakra was like a ball of murder. Moving on led us to the real person I never wanted to meet ever though. That's right.

We ran right into Orochimaru and Team Seven.

Honestly, everyone knew this was coming. I did. Kinoe did. All the Samsaras. It was something that was guaranteed to fuck me over. Yet I was still rendered motionless by fear when I felt a chakra so powerful that it couldn't have been anyone but him. I should have led my team away, but I didn't. I made a choice when I sensed his chakra. I made a choice that I wanted to do something. I don't know what I was thinking that time, rather I don't know what I was thinking I could do. I was pretty much useless.

I can probably take all the blame for the world state after these exams. But that didn't concern me at that very moment. I kept going so that we almost literally ran into Team Seven and Orochimaru.

We landed on a branch above where Orochimaru stood facing Sasu and Naruto. I almost fell off the branch due to the feeling that Orochimaru's chakra gave me. It just felt plain icky.

Orochimaru hardly looked at us, but in a voice that sounded so horrendously evil, murmured, "And so the other Uchiha falls right into my hands as well."

His voice made me realize exactly what I had just brought us into. All that thinking I hadn't been doing suddenly started happening and well, I realized I was an idiot.

My first thought was, I have just made a fatal error. My second thought was, Naruto and Sasu were working together that's pretty good. My third thought was why did Orochimaru have the goddamn Sword of Kusanagi out.

I was surprisingly calm considering the clusterfuck I walked myself into. It seemed like Naruto and Sasu were a force to be reckoned with when Orochimaru was playing with them as the genin. But Naruto had orange chakra that was burning into my senses oozing from him and Sasu's chakra was erratic and low. But I didn't think Orochimaru had bitten him yet because Sasu's chakra was still Sasu's.

"Shicho, run!" Sasu barked, "He's not a genin!"

"I fucking know that!" I replied and somehow my usual snark found its way out, "You _would_ find a Sannin to fight!"

"Orochimaru of the Sannin." Kyuketsu, firm and slightly dazed murmured. Orochimaru's head twisted and I got my first look at the real Orochimaru. He was paler than I was with slit eyes and a thin face. He was very unsettling to look at, if I was honest. There was a glow to his skin that I wasn't very sure about and in my mind all I could hear was his theme playing on repeat. Other than that he was exactly as one would expect the real Orochimaru to look like.

Orochimaru smiled with his lips curling up, "My, this is exciting. Gatarui Kyuketsu-kun is here as well."

That, Orochimaru naming Kyuketsu, was probably one of the scariest moments of my life. Hearing Orochimaru refer to Kyuketsu like that chilled me to my bones. All the fight in me seemed to cool off and I just felt fear seep through me. I tried to make sense of it. Kyuketsu had been called the false Aburame for a reason, I supposed. Gatarui.

Gatarui.

I didn't know what the name translated into. Gatarui could come from the word for arachnids, and that made complete sense. Kyuketsu's name, now that I think about it, I had always translated to meaning mission. But Kyuketsu, when spelled with kanji, could be bloodsucking. A reference to his spiders, then.

Can you tell I was so nervous I was breaking down?

Bu brought me back into the world though because he tackled both Kyuketsu and I off the branch we were on. Naruto's body broke through said branch and in horrified fascination I watched as he continued through another tree. Bu managed to land us semi-softly but Kyuketsu was unresponsive other than the occasional utter of "Orochimaru of the Sannin..."

Orochimaru somehow managed to break Kyuketsu, but at that point I was more concerned with the present instead of the possibilities.

I saw Orochimaru's neck stretch impossibly and reach for Sasu and before my mind was working my arm was. Orochimaru's head stopped and a kunai darted past his face only centimeters from his nose. Was that my kunai? Yes, yes it was. He looked in my direction and I can't say I regret trying to save my brother but I definitely did not want Orochimaru staring at me. Orochimaru retracted his head and started to walk towards us. I shivered and felt feeling come back through my limbs.

I stood up and Bu jumped up next to me. My mind worked faster than usual and I made a decision that even as I look back on, I will not regret.

"Bu take Kyuketsu and run." I ordered.

"What?" Bu sputtered, "No, we fight-"

"Bu fucking take him and run!" I spat, "He's unresponsive!"

Bu's chakra flickered with emotion. He was angry and scared and his chakra was like a raging fire. It was trying to consume everything around it as it moved in irritation. But Kyuketsu was indeed unresponsive. He was dead to the world and Bu's chakra deflated as he knelt by the calm, still chakra that was Kyuketsu. Kyuketsu was always calm. But Kyuketsu was never still. Not like this. I was scared for him.

I stood in front of Bu and Kyuketsu and I drew my pathetic little tanto. Orochimaru eyed the little sword and I felt like I brought a toothpick to a sword fight. Bu lifted Kyuketsu into a fireman's carry and I felt his chakra dash off. I drew my senses within myself because I could feel Naruto charging up chakra a few trees away. My legs were shaking as Orochimaru casually came towards me and when he was only a few meters away he stopped.

"What interesting eyes you have." Orochimaru murmured as I pushed chakra to my eyes and brought out my sharingan. I narrowed my eyes as Orochimaru looked me dead in them. You usually didn't do that if you were facing an Uchiha, obviously, but Orochimaru was arrogant. He was strong. I was nowhere near strong enough to keep him in any kind of genjutsu, nor would I be able to use something like Itachi's Tsukuyomi.

I couldn't let Orochimaru talk or move first. He was charismatic and a master at mind games. He was also the strong opponent and I wanted to try and get off on the offensive to surprise him. If I could stall long enough Anko would arrive, I think. Or some ANBU. At this point anyone would do as long as they could stop Orochimaru.

I lunged forward with the tip of my tanto aiming for his gut. Orochimaru's lips quirked in amusement and he waved Kusanagi. He didn't slice, or swing, he waved. Kusanagi was a legendary sword and I almost felt tears of frustration well up in my eyes as my tanto was cleanly sliced through. The blade fell to the ground with a soft clang and I dropped the handle with no more use for it. Even with my sharingan, even with my speed, even with everything I knew and could do, Orochimaru was still faster, stronger, and better.

Fushicho whispered, calmly for once, " _Open my cage, Veronica_."

I didn't have time to answer back because I had to get the fuck out of the way when Orochimaru suddenly swung towards me in what was probably a lazy way for him but a rather quick attack in my genin experience. I jumped to a tree branch and Orochimaru stayed on the ground, looking up at me with this humored look. Sasu was coming towards the fight now and I really didn't want him to come this way. I would rather Sasu had run and left me in the dust. In this scenario I wouldn't have blamed him. I wouldn't have thought bad of him like I did of my brother in my previous life.

But Sasu charged in like the reckless idiot that was his friend. So many things happened at once. Bu landed next to me on the tree. Sasu tried to stop as Orochimaru turned around to bite him. Naruto came out of nowhere like an orange bullet. And Sakura, who had probably been hiding this entire time, tossed a kunai while jumping towards the branch Bu and I were on.

What had she been thinking, I wondered. Did she throw the kunai because she saw me before? Did something happen to change her? What had I done to cause this? What had I DONE?

"That idiot." I uttered softly, my heart almost stopping, as Orochimaru flung the sword of Kusanagi and it cleaved through the kunai Sakura threw. Orochimaru bit into Sasu's neck as the sword, spinning like a frisbee, met Sakura. Sakura tried to block it. She held up her left arm and she moved her body. Sakura would have been fine, sword completely missing her body, had she not tried to block the sword. Sakura landed on our branch and Bu caught her as this splatter of blood followed her and spilled onto Bu and I. My eyes weren't on Sasu anymore. They hadn't been since I watched Sakura move. Sasu getting the curse mark was expected. This? THIS? This was not.

My eyes had been stuck on Sakura as the Sword of Kusanagi cleaved through her arm like it was butter and sliced off her arm from about the middle of her bicep.

My breath was caught in my throat as Sakura's arm smacked me in the face, because that was some irony right there, and I fell backwards off the tree branch. Bu yelled my name and I landed on my back on the ground. The arm bounced a few meters away and I sat up. I stared at the blood on myself in morbid fascination.

Sakura's blood.

This shouldn't have happened and yet, it did. It happened and it was entirely my fault. I didn't have time to be laying there, stunned and mentally berating myself. Yet I didn't have the willpower to move. I fucked up.

" _Hey, dumbass! Wake up_!"

Fushicho was calling for me and it was all blurry until I looked up to see Orochimaru approaching me. Sasu and Naruto were laying on the floor and I didn't know what Bu was doing with Sakura. Did Orochimaru tamper with Naruto's seal? I wasn't quite sure. I hadn't been paying much attention.

I was next. I didn't know what to do-what could I do? Me, the girl who's afraid of her only good ability.

Of course Bu was a dumb bitch and he wanted to try playing hero. Bu had little bombs between his fingers as he descended down towards Orochimaru but Orochimaru, with fingers so fast I didn't even see the hand signs (Rather, I didn't comprehend them. My sharingan probably saw them but I was just not mentally there.), blew him away. Literally. Bu disappeared from my sight with a few explosions sounding in the distance and in that moment, I reached into my mind. I reached for the cage door. I reached for Fushicho.

And I opened the goddamn prison.

Somehow my body got to its feet and I felt this dark tingling sensation wrestle with me throughout my body. As the feeling reached my feet flames swirled around me. Fushicho managed to do what I tried to scare Gaara with. Fushicho forced us to smile although there was something so eerie about the way my face felt I was sure that it was an unsettling expression. Orochimaru paused for a moment as if he had noticed the change in me. His eyes flickered over my face and his lips curled.

Fushicho made my body feel weird. I still had some kind of control, where I could have moved if I wanted to, but I really didn't. In this case Fushicho had full control over our body. Fushicho didn't move like I did either. I was lazy and my fighting style did not contain any flips or general weird movements. I didn't like the extra movements because they drained my energy faster. Fushicho however moved like something possessed. She moved my joints unnaturally and she was faster than I was even with all the extra things she did.

Despite all this though, Fushicho was still using a genin's body as her puppet. While she definitely maximized what my body could do it was still nothing compared to Orochimaru. Had I gone against Gaara Fushicho may have been able to pull out a win with her control over my Natural Fire and speed. But Orochimaru was a Sannin. Orochimaru was Orochi-fucking-maru. Fushicho was offensive and her thoughts on defense seemed to be "The best defense is a greater offense". She used every single one of my projectiles on him and just kept a kunai for a melee weapon. Orochimaru couldn't really care any less though and when he decided to swat me away, he did so.

I didn't feel it as I slammed through a tree and left a vaguely Fushicho shaped mark. Though Fushicho likely took the brunt of the feeling for that.

" _Son of a bitch_." swore Fushicho, " _This is tiring. I'm not used to this_."

" _What's our best bet_?" I demanded.

Fushicho didn't answer because she got out of the way of Orochimaru's neck coming in for a bite.

" _I do not want that on my neck! Get the hell out of here_!" I growled and Fushicho complied, ascending into the trees and leaving burning branches behind on each step. Orochimaru's neck was insanely creepy and insanely fast. He was getting closer, I could feel it, as Fushicho pushed herself through the branches and up the tree. When I swore I felt hot breath on my neck we were saved by Anko crashing through the bushes and intercepting his path.

We didn't stay and chat or try to help. Fushicho booked it and we looped around to where everyone was unconscious, well almost everyone. Naruto and Sasu were right where I left them but Sakura was hyperventilating and having a full blown panic attack against a tree. Bu must have tried to tie a tourniquet around what remained of her bicep but she was bleeding through. Despite me wanting to go to Sasu first, Fushicho led us over to Sakura.

"You'll be fine when you wake up." Fushicho, in a voice that sounded most certainly not like my own, promised her before knocking her out.

I felt Fushicho's power receding in my body. But with the last of her power Fushicho pulled chakra to our left hand and she covered Sakura's stump. There was a smell of burning flesh that sent me through a series of flashbacks that were not pleasant in the slightest. The smell brought me back to my own death and my skin tingled. I could almost feel myself burning. Fushicho's grasp on my body faded completely and just in time. She faded away just as Sakura's wound was cauterized enough where she wasn't losing a shit ton of blood.

My body felt like it was made of lead and I collapsed onto my side next to Sakura. I closed my eyes so that I didn't have to look at her wound. I was given probably five minutes of rest where I could hear a fight in the distance; likely Anko and Orochimaru. They were getting quieter and quieter and Anko was hopefully leading him away purposely. Eventually after my five minute break I heard footsteps approaching. I pushed myself up, totally not ready for a fight but ready to get us out of this situation with some bullshitting, and standing in front of me was Kyuketsu.

We stared at each other for a good minute. I was staring at him in disbelief and he was looking at me with this slowly growing guilty expression. Keep in mind, Kyuketsu doesn't do guilty expressions. Like ever.

Kyuketsu looked at Sakura, then at me. He glanced over at Sasu and Naruto. Bu wasn't in our line of sight but I vaguely felt him on the edge of my minimized range.

"I'm sorry." Kyuketsu stated, bowing his head to me.

I raised an eyebrow at him and Kyuketsu got to his knees to bow to me, "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you and Bu."

"You wouldn't have made a difference." I told him, awkwardly trying to assure him I wasn't mad in the slightest, "That man, Orochimaru, is far stronger than the three of us even together could hope to face now."

Kyuketsu made a noise of acknowledgement and he stood up. He helped me to my feet and he wiped his hand across my face. When he pulled it back I saw I must have had blood splattered across my face. I rubbed with my sleeve and Kyuketsu nodded at me. I felt like I wasn't doing much to the blood that was dried to my face but at this point we had a bigger concern with four unconscious people.

"You wanna go get Bu? He's that way." I pointed in the direction of Bu's signature.

Kyuketsu smirked, "I think he'd rather wake up to you than me."

"If he doesn't wake up I'm leaving him there. No way am I carrying his fat ass when I feel like this."

There was an elephant in the room. Kyuketsu wasn't acting like himself. There was something forced in his expressions that led me to believe he was hiding something from me. But regardless I started walking towards Bu's chakra. I kept my attention on Kyuketsu's signature though and as I walked towards Bu Kyuketsu tried to rouse Naruto and Sasu. When I found Bu I initially panicked because I thought he was dead from the amount of blood covering him. But then I remembered he had caught Sakura and we were both sprayed from the original cut.

Bu was probably knocked out from the force of getting thrown a good distance away. I peeled Bu out of the indent in the tree that he created and I carried him piggyback towards Kyuketsu. Every step felt extremely heavy but I pushed forward and when I got back to Kyuketsu I was amused to find he found what looked like where Sakura hid in canon, except it was in the tree instead of below it. I dropped Bu and Kyuketsu tended to everyone's wounds. I was pretty useless in this aspect so I just closed my eyes and kept watch.

My meditation was ended some time later when Kyuketsu tossed a scroll at me. I jumped because I hadn't been expecting it and then I looked at the scroll after giving its thrower a dirty look. The scroll was the usual item sealing scroll although Kyuketsu had marked the flap with a bloody finger print.

"What is it?" I questioned. Bloody finger prints usually meant there was a bounty or dead body or something else that would scar you for life if you opened it not expecting something horrifying.

Kyuketsu pointed to Sakura over his shoulder with his thumb, "Her arm."

"Gah." I dropped the scroll in my bag, "Why me?" I mean, an arm would absolutely scar me for life if I didn't expect there to be one in this scroll.

"She likes you more than me." was Kyuketsu's answer. I rolled my eyes and Kyuketsu came to sit next to me. We watched the four injured for awhile in silence. Eventually I was able to get my thoughts in order. I didn't really want to ask Kyuketsu about why Orochimaru recognized him. I didn't want to hear something that I didn't want to hear. But I needed to know. Who was Kyuketsu?

I turned my head to look at Kyuketsu, "Hey, which is it? Aburame Kyuketsu, or Gatarui Kyuketsu?"

Kyuketsu inhaled deeply, as if he thought he had gotten out of anyone noticing that. But he resigned himself to his fate.

"I suppose I should tell you. You deserve it." Kyuketsu nodded to himself, likely trying to convince himself I deserved to hear it, "My parents were nuke-nin. My mother was a lower Aburame who defected to be with my father, a man she met on a mission. She kept in touch with her sister in the clan while traveling the nations with my father. They had two sons, me and my brother. Orochimaru wanted our father's bloodline. He came after us and in the chaos my mother and brother were left behind as my father took me. We assumed they were dead and my father kept me until Orochimaru came after us again. My father brought me to the village when I was eight. He killed himself. I met you when I was nine."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say due to the abruptness of it all, "Kekkei-Genkai suck, don't they?"

He made a noise of agreement. How Kyuketsu-esque of him to throw his life story on me like that.

"You never explained what you could do to us." I commented.

Kyuketsu nodded, "You've seen my arachnids. I am like the Aburame in that I house these dangerous arachnids inside my body but I cannot use the kikaichu that the Aburame use. My father's Kekkei-Genkai entails being able to synthesize poisons and using your fangs to inject them, using clan jutsu, and my brother and I were signed onto the Spider summoning contract."

"That's... pretty cool, actually. Can you do any of that yet, aside from the summoning that I've seen?" I questioned. Kyuketsu looked down at his knees as he debated something.

"I am able to use a few minor jutsu and I have the handsigns memorized to the major jutsu but I am unable to perform any of those. My canines are able to transmit poison although I have not experimented much there." Kyuketsu pulled his knees into his chest and he leaned his chin on them.

There was silence for awhile. I thought it was a peaceful silence but I couldn't tell Kyuketsu was thinking. He was clearly on the edge about something and I wasn't sure what. We just had a pretty serious talk considering how secretive Kyuketsu normally was.

"Fushicho, is there anything you've kept from us?"

It came out of nowhere and I almost choked. I blinked at him, confused as to what he thought I could be hiding. I mean, I was hiding a shit ton from everyone but it wasn't like I was hiding who I was.

Okay.

I was hiding Veronica, but not Fushicho.

"No?" I answered, tilting my head in confusion. Kyuketsu searched my eyes before accepting my answer with a nod.

"Alright." Kyuketsu rested his forehead on his knees again.

Kyuketsu was taking first watch and I was dozing off when I heard him utter, under his breath in a way that I wasn't supposed to hear it, "Thank you for being my friend, Fu."

I smiled into my arm.

.

Kyuketsu woke me up for my watch and after he was asleep I had a relatively boring watch. I remembered the Oto nin that came after Sasu about two hours into my watch so I went around setting up traps with things I stole from Bu's pouch. Then I returned to our camp and waited. I didn't wake up Kyuketsu for his next watch.

Sakura woke up as the sun started to rise. I heard her shift and I left the opening I was sitting in to kneel beside her. When Sakura opened her eyes they were filled with tears.

"I'm alive?" she whispered.

"Mm." I nodded, "You're alive. So is Sasu and Naruto."

"Thank goodness." she closed her eyes again.

"Fushicho-san, is this a dream?" she asked me. Her tone suggested she was begging me to tell her that yes this was a dream.

"No. But everything will be fine. Don't worry. Me, Kyuketsu, and Bu, when he's done being unconscious, are here to help." I told her cheerfully, well, as cheerfully as I was able to. Sakura sat up using her remaining arm to push herself. She looked at where Kyuketsu had bandaged her stub. It was stained a dirty red now and I grabbed the bandages so I could change it. Sakura sat with her legs crossed and she looked away when I started to unwrap her stub.

"Fushicho-san, what can I do now?" she whispered.

"What do you mean?" I replied, starting the new bandage. I wasn't sure how tight to wrap it but I figured it was more so Sakura wouldn't have to look at the cauterized wound at this point.

Sakura sniffled, "My arm is gone. How can I be a ninja now?"

"You find a way around it." I told her, "We met a guy who could do one handed hand signs on our mission to Wave."

Sakura was silent. I didn't get to continue the conversation with her because in the distance there was an explosion. I reached my senses out and felt three signatures trying to get through my minefield on one side. Three other signatures, these ones familiar, were approaching slowly from another angle. Skipping around the trees was another signature.

I stood up after finishing Sakura's arm. There was another explosion, this one closer.

"Where are you going?" Sakura whispered.

"I need to take care of whoever is coming towards us." I told her confidently, "Don't worry about me."

Sakura sniffled and wiped her nose, "What if it's that man again? Orochimaru?"

"Then I'll lead him away." I promised. Of course she didn't know that if Orochimaru was coming our way I would probably be fucked. My bravado seemed to cheer her up and she watched silently as I looked out the opening.

" _dOn'T gEt In OvEr YoUr HeAd_." Fushicho, sounding tired and warped cautioned me, " _I aM tOo TiReD tO sAvE yOu_."

" _Like I need your help against these guys_." I scoffed but that was false bravado speaking. I waited and felt as the three signatures approached and proceeded to get bombarded by every potential trap that I had been taught. Considering Bu was my teammate, that was a lot. There were curses as they got closer and Kin complained about how they smelled now. As they got closer the traps suddenly got deadly but none of them actually got hit past a little bit of singing.

The closer explosions woke up Kyuketsu who looked groggy and confused. After another explosion he was wide awake.

"We have company." I said rather cheerfully, "We need another scroll right?"

"Don't be arrogant. It will be three on two." Kyuketsu warned. Sakura looked a bit worried at that idea but she didn't say anything. Kyuketsu stood up and joined me in peering out of our hiding spot as Dosu, Kin and Zaku appeared at the edge of the clearing. Kin looked very upset and I had to muffle my laughter as I realized her hair was singed and a bit shorter than expected. Dosu and Zaku were also a bit roughed up and Dosu called out.

"We're here to fight the Uchiha!" Dosu yelled, sounding extremely angry.

Sakura looked alarmed, "He's after you and Sasuke-kun too?"

I didn't give her a response. I jumped out of the tree and landed across from them. I turned on my sharingan, "This Uchiha sound good?"

"Perfect." Zaku grinned and stepped forward with his arms coming up. His arms looked really fucking weird by the way with the sharingan.

Before the fight even started though Kyuketsu landed beside me and pushed me backwards. He bit his thumb and slammed his hand down to the ground. There was a burst of smoke and Kyuketsu's chakra was suddenly missing over half of what it usually had. Considering he was already drained, he probably was lower than he was used to. Kyuketsu stumbled backwards and I caught him before he tripped over a root. When the smoke cleared a spider about the size of a small car, maybe a little bigger than a smart car, was taking up a majority of the clearing. It had some kind of armored skin and I almost screamed when it spoke. I heard Sakura muffle her own screams in the tree.

"Kyuketsu-sama, is this blood my offering?" the spider demanded peacefully. It clearly knew the three gaping Oto nin were its enemies.

"Drain them dry but do not damage any scrolls they carry." Kyuketsu rasped. The spider looked down at the three Oto-nin and lunged. They scattered in three directions and the spider followed after Dosu while Zaku and Kin looped around and came towards Kyuketsu and I. I feel bad but I dropped Kyuketsu and he fell sideways. I leaped over him and went to grab for my tanto when I realized I no longer had a tanto. I flipped, despite not liking flips, into a kick and met Zaku's fist with the kick. I parried Kin's kunai with the single kunai I did have and when I got the chance I faked Zaku out and kicked him across the clearing. I allowed Kin to wrap her fingers into my hair. She thought she was victorious.

"A little girl like you shouldn't be a ninja with hair this long-" she began but her sentence ended in a shriek when suddenly her arm warmers were engulfed in flames. She let go and I turned around and went for a roundhouse kick. She ducked under and tried to hammer her burning arm into me. I backed up with my eyes focused on the fire. Goosebumps rose across my skin. I hated fire. How cruel this world was to give me the ability to use fire. Why couldn't I have been the water bender instead of the fire bender? I'd much rather be Katara than Zuko.

Zaku returned quickly and the two worked together against me. Zaku got a few good hits against me and I felt my lip split open with one of them. I was being backed into a corner and when a senbon narrowly missed a pressure point and stuck into my shoulder instead, Sakura decided she had to help. She threw a kunai at Kin who avoided it easily. Sakura's throw was off by miles. Typically all ninja had to be able to be ambidextrous but I was sure Sakura didn't practice throwing kunai with both hands and there was also her pitiful state to consider.

Kin laughed when she saw Sakura, "Look at that! The long haired hime lost her arm!"

Sakura gripped another kunai and threw it wordlessly. It would have been pretty badass of her if there weren't tears streaming down her face.

It was honestly really lucky that Sakura had done that. Sakura was a friendly girl and she was, most importantly, a connection to others. When Sakura showed herself I was willing to bet Ino almost shit herself in the bushes because of her arm. Ino didn't even wait for Shikamaru and Choji. Ino erupted out of the bushes ready for a fight and Shikamaru and Choji followed after a moment of being astounded that Ino had actually done that. Meanwhile Lee, who had been watching from a tree, dove down like a hawk.

"Sakura-san is beautiful and strong!" Lee cried, slamming his foot into Kin's face.

Lee is a blessing, by theway. His backup would be great since Dosu wasn't present to fuck him up.

Ino faltered and her eye twitched as Lee clearly stole her thunder. Shikamaru and Choji came to a skidding stop by Ino. However from here things went relatively similar to the anime. While Lee was still up and moving, Ino's possession of Kin led to Zaku attacking Kin. Dosu returned looking a little worse for wear with his clothes and gear almost torn to shreds. The three of them together made for a deadly team and I looked around for Neji and Tenten. I found them watching a good distance away.

"We aren't here to play by the rules," Dosu rasped, "We only want the Uchiha twins."

"Sasuke-kun?" Ino echoed although she didn't move, "What do you want with Sasuke-kun?.

Kyuketsu sat up from where I had dropped him and he went to summon again but I smacked his hands away, "You are not dying of chakra exhaustion, you moron!"

Kyuketsu gave me a nasty glare but suddenly everyone in the clearing flinched. I almost fell to my knees as the overwhelming chakra walked out from the tree roots. I looked at my brother in horror when I realized Sasu's curse mark was acting up. The marks climbed around his skin and the intensity of it had shattered the lenses of his glasses. The way Sasu moved with the curse mark looked unnatural-like how Fushicho moved my body. My body lost all its feeling: I completely zoned out the fact that Sasu's chakra felt like death to me.

"Sasu!" I yelled, struggling towards him despite my body not wanting me to get closer, "Put that evil shit away now!"

Kyuketsu, as well as everyone else in the clearing, looked at me like I was insane.

Sasu ignored me, "Shicho, did they do that to you?"

"That's not important, put that away right this moment!" I wasn't even that badly hurt. Just a few marks on my face. If he could even see them; I didn't wash my face so it still probably had dried blood sticking to it. I was likely a horror show at the moment.

"I feel so powerful, Shicho. Who did that to you? I can make them pay." Sasu said, stepping forwards. The dust around him was kicking up as he walked. I was getting pretty pissed off he was ignoring me too.

"Sasu put that shit away right now!" I snarled, "That's not a good way to get stronger!"

"It's fine, Shicho. I feel better than fine. That guy gave this to me..." Sasu continued forward and I was afraid of what he was going to say next.

I stood up and came to stand in his way. Sasu and I locked sharingan. I growled, "You put that away right now or else I will put it away for you, brother."

"I understand now." Sasu said simply but his voice was so off that I felt my stomach twist and turn anxiously, "I must be the one to avenge our family."

"You dumbass, put that away and talk to me like a man! Don't be a dumb little bitch!" I snarled. Sasu stepped up to me and, nose to nose, we stared into each others eyes. Sasu's chakra was kicking up the dirt around us and my hair was whipping with it. We were probably a pretty epic sight, if not a terrifying one.

Sasu's eyes didn't show any sign of softening, "I will not let us watch anyone else die. No one will hurt the Uchiha anymore. No one will target us for our eyes. No one will try and wipe us out. I will kill all who oppose us."

"You dumbass, you absolute fucking-" Sasu grabbed me and moved me out of the way of Zaku's air current. Sasu let go of me and I could only gape as Sasu appeared next to Zaku so quickly my sharingan was probably the only thing that let me see him move. Zaku tried to blast him away but Sasu moved around him fluidly and grabbed a hold of his arms. He kicked out Zaku's knees and planted a foot in his back.

The crack of his arms had Sakura crying and Team Ten had fled back to their bush. I wasn't letting this fly. In the anime, Sakura hugged Sasu and begged him to stop when he went to go after Dosu. In real life, I tackled him to the floor and punched his chest a few times before he even had the chance to look at Dosu.

"Stop! Stop you moron!" I dug my heels into his sides to try and discourage him from getting up. I refused to let him do whatever he wanted and when he pushed us up to move us out of the way of Dosu's attempt on our lives, I grabbed Sasu in a headlock. Dosu stopped when two angry sharingans were briefly trained on him and he wisely chose to stay still so as not to get Sasu after him.

I tightened my grip and cut off his air flow, "Get a hold of yourself Sasu!"

Sasu couldn't talk because I was choking him but we struggled for a few moments until Sasu overpowered me. The dark chakra that had been emanating him touched my skin and I couldn't tell what was worse: Sasu's chakra or the demonic chakra that Naruto emanated. My body almost shut down right then and there. The dark chakra latched onto me and I screamed so loudly that my throat burned only a few seconds in. I retracted from my brother and fell to the floor, grasping my arm and writhing.

It was like a switch. As soon as Sasu realized he hurt me the marks retracted like it was nothing. He went to try and hold me, probably to comfort me or help me, but he hesitated when he realized his touch had done this. So as I twitched and tried to move my own chakra around the burning area in an attempt to get it to get the fuck off me, Sasu turned to Dosu. Dosu, in an oh shit moment, dropped his scroll, collected his teammates, and ran for his life.

I rolled onto my back as the pain started to subside but there was a lingering ache that I couldn't shake. Sasu stood over me with the faintest tears in his eyes.

"Shicho, I'm so sorry." he whispered, bowing his head to me, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You moron. Don't you know you should listen to me? Idiot." I laughed rather pitifully and sat up. I put a hand on his head and Sasu looked at me like I was something he had never seen before.

Sasu sniffled, "I wasn't lying though. I won't let anyone push us around anymore. No more kidnapping attempts. No more attacks. No more. I won't let you be hurt again."

"I'm a goddamn ninja, bro. You should focus on not using that damn chakra." I looked at my arm and found lingering marks from the chakra, "If these scar you owe me."

Sasu snorted and hung his broken glasses from his shirt so he could wipe his eyes, "Since when do you care about your skin?"

"Since Onna wants me to wear actual girl clothes. Can you believe her? I was tempted to wear the battle kimono for this but I'm not used to the sleeves yet." I huffed. Sasu and I's moment was ruined when we heard frantic footsteps and Ino practically tackled Sakura to fret over her arm. Sasu and I looked over at them.

"Sakura! What happened?!" Ino was sobbing hysterically, "You don't have-"

Sakura cut her off quietly, "I know."

Shikamaru and Choji quietly emerged from their bush and when I looked around I realized Lee had disappeared at some point. There were simultaneous groans from Bu and Naruto and when both sat up looking horribly confused, I rolled my eyes.

"You slept through a fight and a half, Bu." I said dryly.

Kyuketsu, who was apparently still conscious, uttered from across the clearing, "Say that again. Make him feel bad."

Bu squinted at me and then he gasped comically, "Fu you look like shit!"

I decided I needed a well deserved nap after that attack on my person. I plopped back into the dirt and Sasu looked tired but amused as I closed my eyes and refused to deal with anyone else's shit. Wake me up when we're at the tower, got it? No more, I say. No more. I want a nice nap.

" _Hey_ ," Fushicho whispered, " _We've got a problem in here_."

She sounded rather back to herself but she had a different tone than usual. She didn't sound as psychotic and angry as usual. She sounded, of course, tired and a bit concerned. She sounded human, is what I'm trying to say.

" _Can it wait_?" I replied. I didn't even envision myself in my mind's dungeon like usual. I was just drifting off into a nap. Or a coma. Or death. Preferably a coma.

Fushicho was silent, " _After the preliminaries. No longer than that._ "

"Goodie. More problems. Exactly what I want in my life."

" _It's not like things went that terrible_."

I scoffed, " _Not that terrible? Sakura lost her arm. And the more I think on it, the more I realize it's entirely my fault."_

Fushicho hummed, " _Kinoe did say not to try and change things and you decided to run at Orochimaru full speed._ "

" _Yes I remember that. Don't patronize me_."

Laughing, Fushicho's words were the last thing I remember before probably falling into a coma. Not even the good kind of coma. I'm talking about the kind where I was willing to bet I would wake up two days later confused and angry.

" _You're not the smartest out there but I'm sure together we'll find a way to push things in the right direction with Sakura. Take a walk down memory lane and see who can inspire you because I have certainly found something interesting in those memories of yours."_

* * *

 **AN:**

 **This chapter was an asshole. A complete and utter asshole. Why is the Forest of Death so long? Gosh, get out of here Orochimoomoo.**

 **I have trouble characterizing characters that aren't Fushicho's squad since I'm not sure what their characters are at yet. Especially Sakura since I am SO EXCITED to work the arm thing you have no idea. That wasn't a moment's decision, I planned that for so long. I am SO EXCITED.**

 **As for what went down with Orochimoomoo: Fushicho did not get the curse seal. I knew long before this she would not be getting it because she probably would not survive it like Sasuke does. Also I did not want to make her more powerful that way. Fushicho knows its a curse seal and would refuse to use it at all, unlike Sasuke who is seduced by its power (In my mind).**

 **My health has been garbage lately. Ugh. I have an infection and let me tell you I am not pleased. The medication didn't work the first time so we're trying again. It's a really common infection so why is the medication being dumb? I bet its to spite me. Grrr.**

 **Fun Fact : If Kinoe was a Sim in Sims 3 his traits would be, with all expansions: Rebellious, Genius, Dramatic, Perceptive and Unlucky. No hidden traits for him. **

**Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **Thomas Drovin  
Girl-luvs-manga  
Guest  
Silly Thoughts  
Rileyyheartt**


	25. The End of the Second Exam

**_Out of the Ashes_**

 _Chapter 25_

 _The End of the Second Exam_

* * *

I woke up from a nice sleep to a much less preferred state than a coma. For one, my back hurt among my various other aches and pains. I sat up and the entirety of my body screamed at me like I had done some kind of intense work out. I extended my senses outward and found my chakra felt pretty solid and normal, meaning Fushicho's presence was rather muted. I could feel her in my body though. It was weird. Parts of her were just chillin in my cells ready for action should I need her. In my mind, if I checked, I was sure she was getting comfortable after I opened the door for her.

"Fu?" Kyuketsu's voice sobered me from my half asleep daze and I blinked at him, he hastily corrected himself, "Fushicho, you are awake now?"

I snorted, "Yeah, Kyu-Kyu. You couldn't have found me a better bed?"

Kyuketsu shrugged and held up a scroll. I blinked at it. We had a heaven scroll right, so why did he have an earth scroll?

I looked at my pouch where the feminine hygiene pouch was still untouched. I looked back at Kyuketsu, narrowed my eyes for a moment, and then realized somehow my two idiots got us our second scroll.

"What did I miss while I was napping?"

Kyuketsu happily filled me in. Team Ten stayed with Team Seven and us, Team Four, until Kyuketsu regained most of his chakra and Ino was done making sure Sakura wasn't going to go commit seppuku or something over her missing limb. Naruto, apparently, had a major freak out over Sakura's arm that took some time but eventually after Sasu was back in regular action Team Ten left and Team Seven split from Team Four when Bu and Kyuketsu promised I was in good hands. Sasu apparently trusted them with my life because Team Seven was off to do whatever they had to do. I had no idea if they had a heaven scroll or not since everything was a bit different but regardless I was sure I would see them at the tower. Then Kyuketsu and Bu came across these poor souls who met some creature of the forest and that's where the scroll came from.

We were on the fourth morning since we were let in and Kyuketsu admitted they had been waiting for me to wake up since day two when they acquired the second scroll we needed. A bit embarrassing but after I did some stretches waiting for Bu to wake up and stop snoring I was good to go. Stretching made everything better by the way; even aches caused by chakra pains. Sasu's chakra burn didn't scar either which was awesome.

The middle tower was easy to reach because when Kyuketsu was tired of us wasting time he summoned a spider about the size of a Volkswagen beetle. Kyuketsu hopped on this spider silently and looked at Bu and I expectantly.

Bu and I shared tentative looks, "So uh, what's this spider's name?"

"Kuikku-Ebu." Kyuketsu said slowly. Kuikku looked up at him.

I blanched, "So, his name is quick web?"

"Yes." Kyuketsu did not explain any further.

Bu and I shared another look, this one not any more positive than the last.

I was the one who had to break the news to Kyuketsu, "I... am really not about getting on that spider."

Kyuketsu stared at me for a moment, "I assure you, Kuikku-Ebu will not harm you."

"I'm really not a spider kind of guy." Bu agreed. We both stared at Kyuketsu and he returned the look with an unamused expression.

"Get on her back." Kyuketsu demanded flatly.

"No." Bu and I, together, stated. Glares were exchanged silently before Kyuketsu turned his spider around and started to slowly move away. Bu and I went to look at each other, for a third time, when the spider shot a web out at us. Bu and I both screamed and the spider leaped into the air towards the trees. Bu and I swung upwards and landed on the back of the spider beside Kyuketsu.

He looked at us, very smugly, "Was that so hard?"

Bu and I were not pleased, to say the least. But at least we had a ride.

The spider was actually incredibly fast. We had to use our chakra to stay on, well, we could have held onto the fur of the spider's back. Bu and I both thought that was the worst idea we would ever have in our lives though. So we were content at keeping stable with chakra.

Generally, people don't like spiders. We didn't meet any resistance on our way to the tower and I was willing to bet it was the spider.

I wouldn't fight a spider, that's for sure.

Unrolling the scrolls in the tower was uneventful because I didn't wait for Bu or Kyuketsu to read the message on the wall. I just grabbed the scrolls and tossed them. They rolled open and there was a puff of smoke.

Hyuga Aina stood there. Instead of the greeting I expected she bowed and rather tonelessly greeted us, "Congratulations on reaching the tower, Team Four. My name is Hyuga Aina and I will lead you to the rooms you will be staying in while the second exam comes to a conclusion."

Bu grinned, "Woo! We made it!"

"I hope the beds are comfortable." I sighed, rubbing my back. Kyuketsu rustled around in his backpack before handing me a jar.

"That will relieve your aches and pains." Kyuketsu informed me, "I will make more after the exams."

"Thanks." I put the ointment in my pouch while Aina led us into the tower through a paneled door that was near impossible to notice in the room. We were brought up a few floors and Aina left us with the parting words of "Don't stray from this floor."

She winked at me when Kyuketsu and Bu were looking around the room.

After she left Bu jumped onto one of the beds in our room with a running start. He bounced with an oomph and promptly announced he was going to sleep. Kyuketsu gave him this disgusted look.

"There are showers here." Kyuketsu, scandalized, whispered, "Would you choose a bed over cleanliness?"

"I'm exhausted." Bu whined.

I rubbed my face and felt some dried blood flake off, "And covered in dried blood. I say we all hit the showers."

I really wanted to know why Bu hadn't even washed off. I had the excuse considering I was unconscious for the majority of the test and couldn't wash in a stream or anything. Bu however was awake and able to rinse off in a stream. Why didn't he was the real question here. Bu grumbled about it but he got up. We all peeled off our armor and got out our changes of clothes. There were towels hanging on a hook in the small room so we each grabbed one, although I grabbed an extra one for my hair from another room. On our way to the communal, but gender segregated, shower rooms, we passed Kankuro who was coming back from the shower. He took one look at us and leaped away.

"Problem?" I demanded.

Kankuro shook his head and raised his hands passively, "You really need to shower."

"Rude." I didn't stop moving for this exchange. I had a goal and its name was shower. I split away from the boys and headed into the girls room. I was pretty excited for my shower and then I decided after my well deserved shower I was going to get some good food. Well, hopefully this place had good food. Kyuketsu shoved two ration bars down my throat after I woke up but now I was feeling ready for some real food.

Inside Temari was drying her hair and putting it into her signature style. When she caught a glimpse of me she winced. I looked around her to see the mirror and I understood why I needed that shower. Dried blood was around the edge of my face and mushed into my hair. My lip was healing but still split and if I had a black eye it was fading by now. Dirt and what looked like ash was smeared in a few places, likely where I rubbed my face unconsciously while waiting for Dosu and his team to show up.

"Yes I know." I said dryly, "I need a shower."

I picked up a bucket from the entrance and walked over to a washing station. I peeled off my dirty clothing and I could feel Temari watching me. As I got to my last layer, a sports wrap and underwear, I looked at her a bit awkwardly.

"Not to make this weird, but why are you staring at me?" I questioned. Despite the fact that we were in a crude version of a sento you generally didn't stare at the other women as they undressed and bathed.

Temari averted her eyes but spoke boldly, "What was that fire thing you did in the forest?"

Ah, that made her curious I see. I shrugged, "It's a thing I can do."

"Is it... does it protect you? Does it... kill for you?" Temari struggled to ask. She was clearly thinking about Gaara and his sand.

I shook my head, "I control it. It's not like it has a mind of its own." That probably would have been a really weird question to be asked if I wasn't aware of her family situation. The way she phrased it was just, off. You could tell shes seen some shit.

Temari ahed in relief and I took off my remaining layer and sat down at the washing station. It had soap dispensers that were labelled with shampoo and soap. No conditioner but that was because this wasn't exactly a luxury hotel we were staying in. I listened to Temari get ready to leave and as she walked towards the door she stopped again.

"Your team was lucky you could do that. He would have killed you if you hadn't of peeked his interest."

I didn't respond and Temari walked out. I rinsed off and instead of taking a bath I returned to the room in a fresh set of clothes. I didn't actually pack pajamas for something like this, you see. So I threw myself onto my chosen bed and stayed on my back to gaze at the ceiling. Despite feeling sleepy I waited for Bu and Kyuketsu to get back before I let myself drift off. When they got back we all crashed into our respective beds and fell asleep pretty quickly.

The next day was the beginning of the preliminaries and we had to be ready. Of course the boys didn't know that.

.

You get pretty used to waking up with your teammates after various team exercises and doing missions together but there was something about waking up to Bu with a massive bedhead. Kyuketsu had clearly already seen Bu's hair and Bu was frantically going through his things looking for a brush.

"I lost my brush!" he exclaimed after emptying a final scroll, "This is awful!"

"What's awful is your yelling." I snapped, sitting up and running a hand through my tangled bangs. Bu didn't look away from his bag as he made sure every crevice and scroll had been checked.

Kyuketsu, who was already dressed and ready, was reading a book on his bed. I slipped out from under the sheets and pat down my clothes. Kyuketsu gave me a dirty look because he knew I wasn't going to bother changing out of what I was wearing. When I pulled my own brush out of my things, Bu gave me these puppy dog eyes that begged for him to use it. I started brushing my hair and Bu slowly crept closer.

"Ne, Fu, think I could use your brush?" Bu almost begged.

I tapped my chin with the brush thoughtfully, "Hm, I dunno... what if you give me lice or something?"

"You've used my brush before!" That was true.

I continued to brush my hair, "What if you picked some bugs up in the forest?"

"Fu please! I'll do your hair for you!" Bu offered desperately.

I blinked at him, "Do I look as vain as you, Pinky?"

Bu deflated. Kyuketsu peered at me from over his book, "You should let him put up your hair. It's long for a genin. That girl grabbed it in the forest."

I shrugged and taunted Bu with the brush, "And that hurt her more than it helped her."

"Traditionally the third stage of the exams are one on one fights. It would be a wise decision to tame your wild hair." Kyuketsu flatly stated. He gave me this dead stare and I groaned and tossed Bu the brush. Bu did his own hair in record speed and even without a mirror could do his braid. I was vaguely impressed as I couldn't do a braid on someone else while looking at it.

When Bu was finished he beckoned me over and I sat down facing away from him. My hair was long enough where Bu stood behind me and hung my hair off the bed. He brushed it again, this time to his own standards, and he started to pull at the pieces at the top of my head. It was actually rather relaxing I have to admit. There's something about the feeling of someone else doing your hair that is so much better than when you do your own hair. I felt myself reclining back a bit.

"What a pleasant slumber party, yes Fushicho?" Kyuketsu remarked as he turned a page in his book.

I rolled my eyes at him, "I'll show you pleasant when Bu lets go of my hair."

"Of course you will." demurred Kyuketsu. He returned his full focus to his book and I closed my eyes. Bu finished my hair far too quickly in my opinion and he ended up braiding around the base of my ponytail. It kind of cleaned up my hair. Really I think Bu just wanted to show off that he knew how to do fancy hairstyles as opposed to actually doing something productive.

After we finished getting ready there was a call for all teams to report to the examination room. We were led in through a set of double doors and lined up in the middle of an arena. On a flat platform that held a few chairs stood the examiners, important figures, and the Hokage. Up on the second floor platform stood all the senseis and I made a point not to look at Orochimaru.

As the Hokage began giving a speech my mind wandered. How could he not recognize his own student's chakra? Considering this man was a well known legend among shinobi something like knowing his own students chakra would be a walk in the park. The only thing I would give him is that Orochimaru's chakra, from his crazy experiments, could have changed. But even so, I was pretty disappointed in our grand Hokage.

As I looked over the teams I found Sakura standing rather strong beside Sasu and Naruto. Sasu had been burning holes in the back of my head and when I looked in his team's direction he looked away. On the other side of the room Gaara was also staring intently at me but I did not look in his direction. I returned my attention to the Hokage asking if anyone was going to be giving up before the preliminary fights.

No one raised their hands.

I accepted this for all of ten seconds.

Then it hit me-Kabuto? I looked around to find his team was here and Kabuto was standing passively with his team. He was looking straight ahead and appeared relatively bored. Of course I felt bored too but that was because I knew the gist of what the Hokage was saying.

Long story short, we all got herded up to the rafters as the first fight was put through the randomizing system. The screen flashed through various names and I hung over the edge of the railing in anticipation. Bu was eagerly bouncing next to me and surprisingly Kinoe was nowhere to be seen. Kakashi was here alongside Team Seven and the other senseis. I was kind of butt hurt that Kinoe wasn't here but all my feelings dropped to my feet when my name was the first one to come up on the screen.

Uchiha Fushicho vs Yakushi Kabuto

Sometimes I really hate my life.

I was a ninja so instead of taking the stairs I vaulted myself over the railing and landed in the arena. Kabuto touched down beside me and threw a charming smile my way.

"Good luck, Fushicho-san!" he said warmly.

I nodded to him, feeling very awkward and unsure, "And to you as well."

The proctor, Hayate stepped forward and explained the rules very briefly again before starting the fight and leaping backwards. Kabuto and I both got into a ready stance but neither of us moved. I narrowed my eyes and called my sharingan forward to make sure if he tried to genjutsu me, I would see through it almost immediately.

He didn't though. He just... stood there.

"C'mon Shicho! Kick his ass!" Naruto called, cheering me on. Sasu nodded in firm agreement. Sakura looked at her teammates and then, in a sudden change of personality, put her hand on the railing and yelled, "Yeah! Kick his ass, Fushicho!"

My mouth dropped. That was when Kabuto made his move. He rushed forward and had I not been distracted I probably wouldn't have hit him. I say that because he wouldn't have moved. As it was he moved and I instinctively did a side kick and caught Kabuto right in the chest. He flew back and he landed solidly on his feet. But he waivered for a second before falling to one knee.

He coughed, "I forfeit!"

"Eh?" my mouth dropped again.

"What!?" Bu and Naruto, together, yelled.

Sakura cheered for me and Sasu had his eyes narrowed. The rest of the room was a bit scattered in their feelings on the match. Kabuto, as a medic came to check on him, apologized, "I'm sorry, Fushicho-san. I should have forfeit before the preliminaries but I wanted to try my best."

"That wasn't your best, you liar." I retorted hotly, aggravated that he made me look bad in front of the room, "You could have put up a much better fight!"

I didn't really think about my words but I was ushered back up to watch the next match. Kyuketsu congratulated me on having an easy win and Bu complained he wanted to see me have a good fight. I scoffed at him and there was a gasp from beside us as the next names were rolled.

Haruno Sakura vs Tenten

Oh good, here it comes. The fuckery.

Sakura didn't forfeit like I expected her to. Instead she took the stairs down and looked bravely at Tenten. Tenten looked a bit put off by Sakura's brave facade.

"Are you sure you want to fight?" Tenten asked, biting her lip. She was looking everywhere but Sakura's injury.

Sakura nodded and looked far more determined than I had ever seen her before, "Yes."

Where had this come from all of a sudden? Why was Sakura suddenly trying so hard?

"Forfeit you idiot." I whispered under my breath. Bu and Kyuketsu looked at me sharply while Sasu agreed with me under his breath. Naruto was cheering on his teammate regardless of how obvious it was that she was not going to win this fight.

"You can do it, Sakura-chan! I believe in you!" Naruto was yelling as loud as he could. Kiba yelled from across the room for Naruto to shut it.

This was when Ino joined in, calling out that she believed in Sakura.

The fight was rather quick. Tenten was a year older than us and Sakura was badly injured. Tenten clearly didn't want to actually hurt Sakura and danced around her while trying to trip her up with long rang blunt weapons. Sakura faltered when Tenten took a katana out of a scroll to engage in close range. Fear clearly made her freeze up and Tenten made the connection that a sword was what had cut off Sakura's arm. In fact, everyone in the room made the connection. Despite how awkward the fight was, Naruto and Ino were still cheering. It was amazing how the blondes could care less about the situation.

Sakura forfeit shakily when Tenten advanced with the katana. Instead of returning to where her team was the medics took her. I saw a flash of red hair and realized that Kinoe was back there playing doctor. I jumped over the railing, much to Bu's vocalized shock, and darted towards the med wing. No one stopped me since I already had my match and when I got inside Kinoe was waiting for me.

"Want to fill me in?" Kinoe questioned in a rather somber way. He was looking off down the hallway where they likely took Sakura.

I dug around in my pouch, "You know exactly what happened."

Kinoe sighed. I found the marked scroll I was looking for and I held it out for Kinoe to take. He eyed it like it was dangerous.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The missing arm."

"Ah, you didn't think to warn me before trying to hand me someone's missing limb?"

"I thought it would be funny to watch you scream." I deadpanned. Kinoe didn't take the scroll.

He shuffled awkwardly and took out a lollipop. He unwrapped it and shoved it in the corner of his mouth. As he sucked on it he said, "We can't reattach it."

"Oh." I felt kind of bad about that. I was honestly expecting to hand him the arm and Kinoe to be all "Awesome we can put this back on!" rather than this. I looked at the scroll with an expression that probably looked rather dejected to Kinoe. He pinched the bridge of his nose when I asked if I should just throw away the scroll.

"Keep it for now. When she's in a better mind state, maybe give it back to her?"

"Oh my god, that sounds like an awful idea. Why would I give her the severed arm back? I'm not that much of an asshole, sensei!" I huffed.

Kinoe rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, it's not a terrible idea."

"No it really is. Why would I give the poor girl her arm back if it can't be attached? What is she going to do, hang it up like a trophy? Give it to her parents saying 'Here mom. Dad. A present from my chunin exams.' Like, aren't you supposed to be the smart one here?" I put my hands on my hips. Kinoe, instead of giving a response to that, dropped a handful of lollipops in my direction and pushed me out of the way as Hinata was rolled by on a stretcher.

"Gotta go, share those will Pinky and Kyu-Kyu!" Kinoe hurried after the medics with Hinata and I took this as my opportunity to return to the stands. Bu asked me where I went when I got back. I tossed my handful of lollipops into Bu's arms.

Kyuketsu watched me put the scroll back in my pocket as he answered, "She had something to give to Sakura-san."

"More like get denied by sensei." I complained. Kyuketsu hummed.

"That's unfortunate."

The names rolled onto the screen again and Bu was forced to stop questioning me when his name appeared on the screen.

Bakuhatsu Obu vs Abumi Zaku

Ah, that's an interesting fight.

Zaku sneered at Bu as he jumped down, "I get to mess you up like I did your girlfriend there!"

Bu's face got red, "I'll fuck you up!"

Everyone else seemed appalled by Bu's language. Sasu snorted. He knew it was my influence. The cheeky asshole.

The two stood across from each other and the proctor wasn't even out of the way before Zaku and Bu were exchanging angry close hand blows. Bu took a good hit to the face while Bu likely broke one of Zaku's ribs with a well aimed side kick. They split apart and Zaku faced his palms towards Bu. Bu looked like he was having traumatic flashbacks as the wind that came from his palms caused Bu to fly backwards and into the wall. Bu didn't hit his head though and rolled a few bombs towards Zaku. Zaku blew them away and Bu was a bit frustrated his usual attacks couldn't do much.

Back to close range. Bu was experimenting with techniques recently and one of them he liked to brag about, but his mother would kill him if he used it without her supervision. One of them was trying to channel his chakra to his fists and causing an explosion. This was dangerous for Bu as he could blow his hand off. But Bu was Bu and he wanted to win the fight. So when fighting hand to hand with Zaku again there was a sudden explosion that engulfed both of them.

Smoke filled the arena and Sasu and I watched with our sharingans as Bu and Zaku's chakra rolled back a few meters before stopping. Bu rolled to his side and got up while Zaku didn't move again. When we could see the actual people instead of their chakra networks, Bu was standing over an unconscious Zaku. Bu looked like shit though with his skin covered in dirt and blood dripping from his crooked nose. He was smiling with a fat lip and Kyuketsu sighed next to me. Bu was brought into the medic bay to get his face straightened out.

Up next was Kiba and Naruto whose fight was kind of similar to canon. The only difference is Naruto is a much better fighter because of his relationship with Sasu, so he actually beat Kiba with more... grace? Technique? Style? I don't really know what to call it. He didn't do anything stupid to win, is what I'm saying. Similarly, Sasu went up against Yoroi and won. His mark was clearly causing him pain and after the fight Kakashi whisked him away to do his thing. I watched Orochimaru leave after that and relaxed when he was out of the room.

The next fights weren't very interesting even though they were mixed up. Ino fought Temari, who really wrecked Ino's shit. Ino was carried out on a stretcher, unconscious, after being slammed in the face by Temari's fan. I was sure Ino would need medical attention to fix her nose back to how it was. Shikamaru fought Dosu and won which was pretty awesome but not very exciting. Shikamaru was too smart to let Dosu's sound waves hit him and his fight ended with Shikamaru slamming Dosu's head back into a wall.

The next match had my interest.

Gaara vs Tsuchi Kin

I think you know how that fight ended. It wasn't even a fight really. Kin was dead as soon as her name was called and she hopped down into the arena with a confident swagger. Gaara's sand was way faster than her and before she could cry out any kind of forfeit the sand engulfed her. There was a crunch that could only mean one thing and blood dripped from the sand still floating in the air. It dropped her mangled corpse after a few moments and Gaara returned to the stands.

Everyone in the room was speechless.

Instead of medics, ANBU dropped from the ceiling and removed the corpse quickly and efficiently. There was nothing to do about the blood stains in the middle of the tournament though.

"How could he just... kill someone like that?" Naruto demanded suddenly and everyone in the room definitely heard it.

Naruto looked at me with big eyes, "Shicho, how does someone just... do that?"

Kyuketsu and I shared a look and Kyuketsu was the one who answered, "Rage. Blood thirst. Hatred. Many things."

Naruto looked back at the screen when the next names appeared.

Akimichi Choji vs Rock Lee

This was a much nicer fight than the previous one. Lee was way too fast for Choji though and Choji was finished with a kick aimed to knock him out. Lee was very efficient and clearly very well trained. A few people did applaud Choji for trying his hardest against an older genin. The next fight was actually Kyuketsu against Shino.

Kyuketsu looked at Shino and flatly called out, "I forfeit."

I almost fell over the railing, "Ehhhh?"

Shino gave off a disgruntled aura but the proctor accepted Kyuketsu's forfeit. As the last match, between Kankuro and Tsurugi Misumi, which was a canon fight. I was very not interested in this fight so I turned and grabbed Kyuketsu by his shoulders. I leaned forward and Kyuketsu looked slightly uncomfortable as I pressed my forehead against his goggles and glared into his eyes with my sharingan active.

"Why did you forfeit?!" I demanded.

Kyuketsu put his hands on top of mine in an attempt to stop me from pulling on his cloak and choking him, "If Shino-san and I were to fight then my spider colony would destroy his kikaichu and potentially kill him. I could not repay my aunt for her kindness that way."

I removed my hands and grit my teeth. I wasn't happy with his answer but I could accept it. It was true that Kyuketsu said his spiders were dangerous and that he wasn't fully in control of his actual colony yet.

"You couldn't have used your summons? Clearly they listen to you." I remarked, turning back to eye the match lazily. Kyuketsu leaned on the railing.

"I could not risk Shino attempting to use his colony and subsequently agitating mine." Kyuketsu didn't add anything further and I didn't ask.

The fight ended with Kankuro as the winner and everyone who won was called to the middle to draw numbers. I drew a one and as everyone else started to pick numbers the pairs were created. Bu ran out of the medic bay to grab his number and he tried to peek at the other numbers people had already drawn. The proctors took down everyones numbers and my heart almost dropped when I saw who got number 2.

Bu and I looked at each other, mirrored alarm on our faces.

I was fighting Bu in the first round.

I vaguely saw the other pairings, but the ones that stood out to me were the fact that Shikamaru was fighting Sasu, and Lee was fighting Gaara.

Holy hell, this was going to be interesting.

.

Honestly the rest was a blur but after we got escorted out of the forest Kinoe ushered us to our training ground. He plopped himself down on his usual log and grinned at us.

"Two of three, not bad for our first run!" he cheered, "Don't worry Kyu-Kyu, you can support your teammates by helping them train."

"Yeah, train to fight each other sensei!" Bu exclaimed, waving his arms about.

Kinoe hummed, "And it will be a good fight. I expect something very fiery and explosive!"

I inhaled, "How about no?"

"You can't avoid fire. We've been over this." Kyuketsu nagged. I groaned and leaned back into the grass. I closed my eyes and announced I was taking a nap. Bu plopped intot he grass next to me with a groan of agreement.

"Well I guess you two will have to train separately then. Hm... Bu, I know exactly what to do with you!" Kinoe announced and I cracked open an eye when Kinoe stood over us. He pointed to me, "And you! You... I actually have no idea what to do with you. I was going to suggest Kakashi but he already has a handful."

"Why don't you train me, you lazy sensei?" I growled.

Kinoe shook his head, "What I want to show Bu will likely take a lot of my time up. I won't have the time to actually do anything intense with you."

Bu sat up, "Sensei I can train with my mom-"

"And yes you will do that because what I have planned accounts for her too!" Kinoe grinned like a madman.

Kyuketsu cleared his throat, "I can assist the Hime."

Kinoe looked at him thoughtfully, "I suppose you can be her sparring partner. She needs a teacher though. And I can't think of anyone who can help her with her particular focuses."

"What are her focuses? Being sarcastic and temperamental?" deadpanned Kyuketsu. I glared at him.

He pointed a finger at me, "Don't look at me like that. You know very well that you avoid your natural affinity for fire and focus on taijutsu!"

"I don't need this! I'll find my own fucking teacher!" I turned away.

'Don't be arrogant, Fushi-" Kinoe began but I stood up abruptly and started to walk away.

"I'll find someone, just you watch!"

Not my smartest decision I admit. I went home and took a long bath and ate some good food. Kinoe stopped by before Sasu got home.

He was butthurt.

"Why are you so stubborn? I don't understand!" Kinoe threw his arms up in frustration, "Don't think I'm throwing you under the bus here or that I like you any less, I'm going with Bu-"

"I don't care about that!" I shouted. I curled my fingers into a fist and shook it at him, "You help Bu! He needs the help, hopeless bomber that he is."

Kinoe rolled his eyes at me, "Lets get off this topic for now. Give me a run down of what exactly happened in the forest."

So I did. I told him about Gaara leaving us alive. About how terrible Orochimaru was. I gave him a fully detailed rundown of what happened.

Kinoe leaned back against the wall in serious thought, "And you said Fushicho said something to you?"

I blinked and tried to recall, "Ah yeah, she said something about there being a problem."

"And did you talk to her yet?"

"No. Probably tonight or whenever she wants to." I answered.

Kinoe looked at his feet, squinted his eyes at them, and turned abruptly. He started towards the door, "You said you'll find your own tutor for the exams, so go do that. Just don't die in what's coming."

"That's it?" I yelled after him.

He also replied in a yell, "Yeah, that's it!"

What the fuck Kinoe!?

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I don't like canon plot. It means I have to watch the anime, do research, meh.**

 **Sorry this took so long! I recall there being a problem with fanfiction alerts so sorry if you didn't see last chapter!**

 **Fun Fact : My simself has the traits, in sims 3, Neurotic, Artistic, Hot-Tempered, Hopeless Romantic, and Ambitious. I actually started a Tumblr legacy blog for sims. PM me if you wanna check it out! **

**Sorry I missed some review replies! I had AP tests in the beginning of the month and kind of just... got lazy.**

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Girl-luvs-manga**


	26. Probably Crazy

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 26_

 _Probably Crazy_

* * *

I slept really good back in my own bed after the second exam. I didn't have any nightmares and Fushicho didn't even bother me. In fact, Fushicho was oddly quiet. I didn't hear from her at all as I went through my morning routine and made breakfast for Sasu and I. As we ate we made idle chitchat about what our plans for the finals were. Sasu, of course, was being taken out of the village by Kakashi to train his sharingan and, as I imagined, to get a reading on his curse marks. I still had no idea what I was going to be doing.

After breakfast I actually decided to make a mature decision for once and confront Fushicho on whatever her problem was. So I went out to our backyard, settled down in the most cliche looking meditation spot, and did exactly that. Meditating was kind of like... surfing your chakra, I guess. For me, it heightened my sensing range and blocked out the burning from the chakra around me.

Meditation of course had the deeper mind level, which is what I was going for. It takes a few minutes to get there. It's not like I can just barge into my own mind. Usually when I'm physically in my own mind, I'm unconscious. Meditating kind of fooled around with that concept and cheated a bit. So that's how you get into your mindscape if you were wondering.

My mind was still made of the heavy brick walls and doom and gloom lighting. However the hallway didn't disappear into darkness now and I wasn't in front of Fushicho's cage. I wandered down a hallway for a bit, peering through windows on doors that showed memories I had no recollection of. Memories from my first life as a very small child. I wasn't here for that so I kept moving until I came out in what I could call a throne room: although it's more so where Dracula would brood than a lordly king would sit.

Lazing about on a throne was Fushicho herself-still the eldritch horror made of flesh and gore. Pitch black eyes rolled to look at me and I shivered. Watching eyeballs roll around is not the most pleasing of sights.

"Look at me." Fushicho drawled, "I was expecting a prettier appearance to meet your prideful mind."

I blinked at her and she gestured to the castle, "It's all a metaphor, you silly girl. You're a prideful, broody girl. Thus a dark castle that looks more so like a dungeon."

"Aren't I here to discuss a problem?" I retorted, ignoring the fact that she was trying to insult my ego.

Fushicho nodded solemnly. Veins popped across her skin as she sat up and something that vaguely resembled an arm reached upwards. From the stub a hand furled out and a single finger rose to point to a spot on the ceiling. I looked upwards and handing precariously and swinging lightly was a rusty birdcage. I had to move to a different angle to see what was inside said bird cage.

I would have described the figure sitting there as Dark Link, if you asked me who that was. Black skin, glowing red eyes. However when the figure moved the blackness melted off for a brief moment and I saw skin-actual skin, not the fleshy monstrosity that Fushicho was.

"Who is that?" I demanded, "And what are they doing in here?"

I looked at Fushicho when she shrugged and pushed herself to her feet, "I have no fucking clue. After you let me out I caught him skulking around. I threw him in there and he won't talk to me."

"I hate this world." I sighed.

Fushicho chuckled, "Too much for your little brain?"

"Too much bullshit. I'm just not intelligent enough to grasp this shit sometimes." I groaned, admitting to it all. Fushicho nodded in agreement and she made a gesture with her hand. The cage began to descend and it stopped when the figure, sitting with its knees hugged to its chest, was head level with me. Fushicho and I looked at the figure and it looked at us. Now that I was closer I could see the glowing red eyes were not really glowing, more so they were just a very bright red compared to the castle's atmosphere. In fact, these eyes were actually sharingan.

"That's never a good sign." I remarked. Fushicho agreed, already knowing what I meant. Generally when a sharingan is involved, it means every physical law in existance can be broken.

"I... really hope you aren't Ita." I said to the figure. That was my main concern, although there is also the possibility of other Uchihas who are much more maniacal.

The figure moved for a moment. It heaved, as if it were about to cough, before it broke out into muffled snickers. Fushicho and I shared briefly alarmed glances at each other before we looked back at the figure.

"This is awkward." the figure wheezed, "None of us look quite right."

That voice was very slightly familiar. I had definitely heard it before but not in the last couple years.

"That means we should probably introduce ourselves." I demurred. However I didn't make the move to go first.

The figure stood up and held out his arms. As he moved it was like the black lagged behind him. Particles fell off him and followed to regain their spot. And for the briefest moment I saw a familiar face.

I blinked and I was sure my jaw was open. In fact, I was sure if Sasu looked outside at me meditating I was making a shocked face as well.

"Shisui!?"

The figure-Shisui-grinned as the black matter stuck back to him, "Kind of."

"Kind of?" I repeated.

"Just an imprint of my chakra."

I was processing this. I immediately tried to think of a way this could have potentially been possible and Fushicho whispered, more so in a stage whisper than anything else, "This is likely similar to how Minato was in the Kyuubi's seal, maybe even the Kushina thing."

I growled dismissively, "That was just plot points to make an excuse to introduce the parents."

"Considering these plot points are your life now, I'd suggest you treat them with more than a grain of salt."

"You fucked up that saying." I snorted. Fushicho rolled her eyes in the creepiest manner and we both looked at Shisui. Shisui, despite most of his face being rather black and stoic, had enough body language showing that he thought Fushicho was the creepiest thing ever.

I asked the question I should have asked before arguing with Fushicho, "Why are you here?"

"The short version is: Itachi asked me to watch over Sasuke-chan and wanted him to receive my eye. Something apparently went wrong because you aren't Sasuke-chan. I've tried helping you before but uh, that thing there, was blocking me." Shisui paused for a moment before he looked at me again, "Can I ask why you're blonde? And look like you were on the wrong side of a katon jutsu?"

I looked at Fushicho and she shrugged at me. That wasn't exactly the input I wanted but I weighed the pros and cons. To tell Shisui the truth, or to lie?

"We don't trust you yet." demurred Fushicho as I struggled to find something to say, "So until we are absolutely sure you are who you say you are, we won't tell you shit."

Shisui nodded, "Fair enough."

Fushicho raised the cage again and we looked at each other. She blinked after a moment and said, "Well, I guess we found you a teacher."

"What?" I was confused.

"You have a Shisui in your head. Take advantage of this and get him to teach you some shit." Fushicho told me, "He was a very talented shinobi. Learn some kenjutsu from him. Learn how he does his shunshin. He was Shunshin no Shisui, after all."

And then I was pulled out of my meditation. No one wanted my attention or anything, but I'd like to think I'm not the only one who would get pulled out of their head by a bird crapping on them.

Fushicho was laughing at me and I could hear a hint of Shisui's snickers in the very back of my mind.

"SON OF A FUCK!"

.

It was really fucking weird to have a new voice in my head. Of course I was probably considered crazy with Fushicho, but now I was double-crazy. Fushicho could be explained, Shisui less so. Who knew if that was even Shisui? This world was stupid, chakra leaving lasting imprints on the world even after someone dies. I want to know just how that chakra got inside me anyway.

I paused chopping vegetables as I remembered something that actually could explain this mess. After the massacre I woke up in surgery. This had been something I mostly forgot about after that day since I didn't seem to be affected in any way. I grinned at the vegetables I was murdering and decided I should go find Kinoe and ask him what the fuck I was doing in surgery that time. I was willing to bet that had something to do with why I had a voice claiming to be Shisui in my head.

I finished making two bentos and I headed towards our training field. Like I hoped, Kinoe and Bu were doing some field renovations with explosives. They scrambled to hide stuff when I approached.

"Fu! What a surprise!" Bu cried as he shoved several things into a bush with his foot. I didn't really care enough to see what he was training.

I pointed at Kinoe, "You! Come with me."

Kinoe blinked, "I'm in the middle of training Bu-"

"I don't care. I have a question about something important. It's not training related either." I snapped. Kyuketsu, who had been reading off to the side, looked up in interest. Bu pouted at me but Kinoe groaned and followed me. We walked for a few minutes before we sat on a tree branch.

Kinoe swung his legs, "What do you want?"

"Why did I wake up in an operation room after the massacre?" I questioned. Kinoe blinked and looked down at the ground. He kept swinging his feet.

When he didn't say anything, I demanded, "Tell me. And does it have anything to do with Uchiha Shisui?"

The quick, almost silent intake of breath let me know I was close. I leaned towards Kinoe and he looked at me from the corner of his eye. He fell backwards off the branch and hung by his knees.

"Well," Kinoe sighed, "You were in an operation room because you got surgery. It was kind of a botched surgery too."

"I wasn't injured in the massacre." I said.

Kinoe grunted in agreement, "No, you weren't. Sasuke was which was why you got this particular surgery. Originally he was supposed to get it but he was far too damaged for us to consider doing what we did to you, to him."

"And what did you do?"

Kinoe didn't answer me. I growled at him.

"We... well, we replaced one of your eyes with Shisui's."

I fell off the branch and Kinoe caught me with one arm. We hung there for a moment and we let things sink into our minds. I was considering the fact that one of my eyes apparently wasn't mine.

"Where's my eye, then?" I questioned, my first concern being who had it. I was hoping the answer wasn't Danzo. I don't want my eye on his creepy arm. That would make things really awkward and feel really weird.

Kinoe pointed to his hip, "I sealed it away on myself. Since we don't know what kind of sharingan you have, as you haven't done anything special yet, we had to make sure to keep it safe. However the point of putting Shisui's eye into Sasuke was that the eye was supposed to guide him subtly. I'm sure it still has some of Shisui's chakra considering it is a very strong sharingan."

I snorted, "Sensei, I have two voices in my head now. One of them is normal, one of them is Shisui."

Kinoe dropped me. I landed in a roll and Kinoe fell next to me. He landed with a heavy thud and he decided to lay on the floor next to where I was sitting.

"Holy hell, that's something. There shouldn't be nearly enough chakra for there to still be any kind of spirit or conscience left." Kinoe sighed and looked up at the clouds, "Well, at least you know the power of his eye."

"Why did the story change? Why doesn't Ita have the eye hidden away?" I wondered.

"Because it is hidden." Kinoe answered, "That hiding place just happens to be your eye socket."

Joy. Exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Be a hiding place for something Danzo would probably want to rip out of me should he ever know where it was hiding.

Kinoe reached up to the top of my head and ruffled my hair, "The other reason that eye was supposed to go to Sasuke is because Itachi wanted him to be able to protect the two of you. So don't think Itachi doesn't care about you too, little Uchiha-hime. He cares."

"Tch, I don't need a fake brother's care." I leaned back into the grass next to Kinoe. I was pretty mad that I had Shisui's eye in my eye socket. I was also kind of mad at Kinoe.

Well.

I was absolutely furious. I was so mad that I was quiet about how angry I was. And everyone knows that my temper usually involves being a loud brat.

Why would he not think to tell me, in the time that I had known him, that my eye was replaced with Shisui's? That's kind of something important and he should have told me. Especially considering the fact that we're both Samsaras! I had thought that Kinoe and I had, you know, some kind of special bond. Some kind of cheesy thing that anime always preaches about.

Evidently, we did not.

Kinoe snorted, "He's real, and he's your brother by blood now. Just because you don't want it, doesn't mean he won't give it."

"Whatever. I learned what I wanted to know." I stood up, "See ya."

Kinoe waved a hand at me and I left without looking back.

.

Contacting Shisui was like using Fushicho as a telephone operator. I got to go through this operator several times a day because I did want to learn from Shisui. Why not take advantage of the voice in my head?

I'm probably crazy, but whatever.

Shisui had me work on speed first. My shunshin wasn't awful and the key to the shunshin is to be fast. I'm not going to lie, Shisui's exercises were absolute hell. He demanded you push your body to its absolute limits and I was glad Sasu was off training with Kakashi because I looked like hell every morning and every night. I rarely saw Bu during the training period. Kinoe took Bu out of the village limits often, just like Kakashi took Sasu. So I was left to my own devices except for when Kyuketsu stopped in to make sure I was alive.

One morning, Kyuketsu brought some kind of protein shake. He handed it to me and I eyed it like it was poison. Kyuketsu rolled his eyes at me when I didn't trust it, "It contains muscle rebuilding proteins. Do not think I haven't noticed you shake with effort from standing."

I mean, he wasn't wrong. My body was on fire and standing was harder than doing an exercise at this point. At least I could focus on an exercise. Standing around talking wasn't very relaxing when my muscles felt like spaghetti.

I took a sip of the shake and found it was a lot thinner than I expected. I drank the drink, pleased that it didn't taste like garbage. Kyuketsu watched me drink every last drop before he put the canister in his bag.

"What are you training for the tournament?" Kyuketsu questioned. I decided this was a good time to sit down so we sat on the panels and watched the garden. Sasu hired a gardener to keep Momma's garden in top shape. I thought it was a good idea although I didn't voice this opinion.

"Speed, Kenjutsu, and my sharingan." I answered easily.

Ah yes. Sharingan training. There wasn't really much to train other than Shisui making sure my reflexes could keep up with it. We did have a relatively serious talk about how I could access his eye's powers but I didn't really want to fuck with that very much. He also explained the price to pay for a mangekyo and I listened politely despite already knowing.

Kyuketsu hummed, "Have you gotten a replacement tanto?"

My tanto got fucked after all.

I shook my head, "Honestly I have no idea to go for one."

Kyuketsu stood up, "Follow me, then."

"What." I deadpanned. Yet I followed him anyway.

Kyuketsu led me through the shopping district and we didn't stop at any of the blacksmiths. We ended up more towards the end of the district where the grittier shops sat. Kyuketsu led me into a shop that looked a little worse for wear but I trusted his opinion. Inside there was a short older man with graying dark blue hair and blue tattoos lining his arms. When he saw us he didn't stop working at his forge until he was completely done. When he eventually finished he turned around and eyed the two of us with unnerving light blue eyes.

"What do you want, brats?" he demanded, "Can't you see I'm busy?"

Kyuketsu wasn't bothered in the slightest, "She needs a new tanto. Hers was broken in a fight."

The blacksmith regarded me again, this time observing me. He snorted, "And how exactly did you break your tanto, then?"

I highly doubted I was allowed to say Orochimaru broke into the forest and went after us. But Kyuketsu answered for me, "Orochimaru."

I gaped at Kyuketsu, "Kyu-Kyu what the fuuuck?"

The blacksmith paused for a moment. He looked over the two of us before he straightened his back with a loud crack, "Uchiha Fushicho, right? All right, I'll make you a new tanto. I'll make you the best goddamn tanto in the whole country if you got away from that snake fucker and lived to get another weapon."

Kyuketsu pushed my jaw up to close my mouth before I drew flies. I looked at him and tried to demand with my eyes for him to explain. I suppose he got the message, because he did exactly that.

"Tensai is an excellent blacksmith. While he looks elderly, his skills are unmatched." Kyuketsu explained while Tensai snorted at the elderly part, "He also has a hatred of Orochimaru."

"Hatred!" Tensai growled as he made it to his forge, already starting on what I assumed to be my tanto, "If I were a ninja, I'd kill him myself! I seek revenge, little Uchiha-hime. I will see that fucker in hell!"

Before I could say anything through, Tensai half turned around and shooed us with a large hand, "Get out of here! I can't focus with you loitering and talking!"

Kyuketsu and I got the hell out of there and we ended up sitting on someones roof nearby. We looked up at the sky and Kyuketsu started giving unneeded backstory I didn't really need, "Tensai has a grudge against Orochimaru for what happened to his daughter. She was one of the people who went missing and was experimented on back before Orochimaru was discovered."

I wasn't too interested in Tensai's background, if I was perfectly honest, so I demurred, "Ah. Well, I guess that was a good thing for us since he'll make me a new tanto."

"He will forge you the best tanto you will ever wield." Kyuketsu promised me.

We ended up getting something to snack on, with him nagging me about my health and what I should be eating. He brought up my nightmares.

"Huh." I stopped suddenly, holding my dango that Kyuketsu was determined to stop me from eating, "Fuck, I didn't even notice my nightmares are gone."

Kyuketsu paused from trying to swipe my dango out of my hands, "They disappeared?"

"Mhm. Whatever, good riddance for now. They'll probably come back." I continued moving but Kyuketsu was interested in this topic.

"What could have caused them to disappear? What have you been eating? Is it your increased training regime? Did something during the exam cause them to disappear?" Kyuketsu bombarded me with questions and I was not happy with his sudden talkativeness. I tried to speed up a bit while shoving my dango stick entirely in my mouth. Kyuketsu made a displeased noise and followed me as I sprinted home.

He said goodnight when I threatened him with dinner that I cooked myself.

Kyuketsu hasn't realized I've been improving my culinary prowess. Soon I will be a master chef! Well, someday. Not today though.

I don't really remember when I came to the conclusion as to when my nightmares disappeared. Sleep was peaceful without them and they were easily forgotten by my other worries. I had been so used to them and suddenly, I had no idea they weren't plaguing me anymore.

Anyway, when I discussed it with Fushicho at some point she decided that it was likely Shisui's chakra accidentally causing them. It probably became active when my nightmares started and as my body got used to it, the nightmares started to settle. They promptly stopped when he was able to make contact, which was actually during the Wave mission. I could recall a few moments where Shisui was there. He was there when Yasobu was in my mind. He was there when I fought Shinju.

Shisui was my nightmares. He was the red eyes that chased me while Fushicho laughed. Fushicho knew he had been here for awhile. She had been fighting against his chakra. But what had allowed him to take his own form like he had now?

Meh, I'll figure it out someday. And if I don't, Fushicho probably will.

.

The week before the finals was filled with festivities. The best day though was the day before the finals because there were game booths, specialty foods, and everyone was supposed to dress nicely in kimono and yukata. There were plenty of D ranks for genin not in the finals to put up decorations and they seemed to have gotten some creative ones because there were lanterns, streamers, and other pretty decorations that filled the streets. Those few days before the final festival night the village underwent a complete transformation.

Onna found me two days before the final festival. I was taking the last three days off so my body could recuperate for the fights ahead so I wasn't doing anything too interesting when Onna let herself into my house.

Well, I was relaxing in the bath.

"Holy shit!" I didn't have any weapons with me in my own bathroom, so when Onna just let herself in I tossed the first thing I could grab at her: a towel. Onna caught it, very amused, and she put the towel aside before dropping a basket on the edge of the bath. I looked into it to find a few bottles that weren't labeled. I picked one up to look at it, all while sinking into the water as best I could, and I uncorked the top. A soft flowery scent came out of the top and Onna gestured to the basket.

"I thought you deserved some pampering after how hard you've been training! Today, I thought you could use these." Onna quickly rattled off what was in the basket but I really only caught half of their actual names. To put in far more blandly than Onna did, inside the basket was a simple homemade spa kit she created. There was lotion to soothe my muscles, cream to make my skin smooth and strong, a face mask that was a concerning black-green and smelled something awful, oil for my hair, and other relaxing things.

So I got ripped from my bath and Onna joined me for my spa treatment. It was actually kind of nice. Onna and I looked ridiculous with face masks on and our hair plastered back and slick with oils. The face mask went on smelling like garbage, dried and pulled at your skin, then peeled off like you were lightly waxing your face. Onna promised it cleaned pores like nothing else and the secret was the kind of seaweed she used. Onna wanted us to paint our nails but typically kunoichi polish was bland, non-reflective colors and made to withstand hell and reinforce your nails for more effective pokes and rakes. I kept my nails very short so Onna didn't bother too much, putting a clear coat on to make me feel like I got the complete experience.

When we were all done after an entire afternoon of pampering, Onna brought out what she really came here for.

"Buttering me up for that, huh?" I demurred as Onna held up a formal kimono. I had worn an actual full formal kimono when I was three for the Shichi-Go-San festival but that was about it. Otherwise I wore much plainer but still expensive yukata for more events. Kimono were annoying because they made it harder to move and required layers. If I wanted to eat and move around the festival a kimono would limit me a bit.

Onna held up the kimono and looked across it at me, "You know me. Now, are you going to accept this or do I need to come back tomorrow?"

"I don't dislike your presence you know, don't act like you coming to visit is a punishment." I replied with a wry smirk, "I guess I'll wear the kimono. It's not supposed to be overwhelmingly warm that day, right?"

For a moment, Onna looked surprised. Then she wiped that look away and smiled proudly and warmly, "I would like a picture of you, Obu, and Kyuketsu-kun on that day. Even Kinoe-san if he stops in."

Sure, why not? Although I was still rather irritated with Kinoe. One whose eye has been replaced without their knowledge generally won't be so forgiving too quickly, after all.

The next day, Onna stopped by with a hearty lunch and she asked me if I could convince Kyuketsu to wear something nice for the festival. I told her there was a very unlikely chance I could get him to do shit, but I figured I had to see him anyway. My tanto was supposed to finish up that day and I didn't feel comfortable going to the blacksmith without him.

I stopped by the Aburame compound and after a few minutes the guard I spoke to at the front retrieved him.

Kyuketsu greeted me, "Hime, I wasn't aware you would be visiting today."

"Tanto pick up." I retorted and Kyuketsu, with what could only be called a pleased smirk, handed me exactly what I was there for.

I took the sheathed blade with both hands and my lips pursed, "How much was this?"

"I paid for it." Kyuketsu answered firmly and I scoffed but pulled out the tanto to see. The blade was definitely a different metal from my last one. This one was much whiter and shinier while also feeling lighter. The handle was firm leather and had a good grip instead of the squishy handle my previous one had. I swung it around and it cut through the air with the only noise being the hiss it made as I ripped it from it's sheath.

I held it up and the light shined off it, "This was expensive."

Kyuketsu shrugged, "Consider it my contribution to your training for the exams. I have been helping sensei and Pinky recently but you have been training entirely on your own."

"I didn't ask for you to buy me a new tanto. Besides, I think a better contribution to my training would be you wearing something nice for the festival." I remarked. Kyuketsu snorted.

"That's not training, Hime. I will see you at the festival." Kyuketsu went to go back into the compound.

"Does that mean you're wearing something nice?" I called after him but the only response I got was a wave of his hand. The guard at the compound gate stood like a statue but I was sure he was watching me behind his dark glasses. I gave up and returned home. How Kyuketsu-like of him. Short and to the point while also being a friend and a jackass at the same time.

.

The festival started in the late afternoon around when the sun would begin getting low in the trees. It gave a nice athsetitc to the entire thing but before the festival started, I had to deal with Onna. I was halfway done with my hakama when Onna once again entered my home without permission and decided to take over how I was dressing that evening. I went along with her though because I was in a rather good mood.

I was excited for the finals. My first match was against Bu, which meant it was a safe match. I knew what would happen during the invasion and no one important dies during that so I would be perfectly safe.

I was surprised when there was a knock on my door when Onna was doing my hair.

"Were you expecting someone, Fu-chan? I asked Obu to retrieve Kyuketsu-kun but they shouldn't be here so early." Onna remarked. I wasn't expecting anyone so I figured I should probably answer the door. Onna clipped my hair so that moving wouldn't ruin everything and I answered the door.

I thought my mouth was going to drop when I saw Sakura standing there but instead I bit my lip. How awkward was this? I still kind of blamed myself for her losing part of her fucking arm. Speaking of that, she was wearing a heavy kimono with the empty sleeve hanging at her side and not giving away the fact she didn't have two full arms.

"Sakura." I said, "Not to sound unwelcoming, but what are you doing here?"

Sakura looked down at her feet, "I know Sasuke-kun is out of the village training so I thought you might need someone to help with your kimono."

I didn't want to be rude and point out she probably wouldn't be too much help with one arm. Instead, I stepped back, "Onna-san is here to help me, but do you want to join us? I think she brought makeup and I don't particularly want to go through that alone."

That was totally an excuse to make her feel welcome. I was planning on avoiding Onna's makeup supplies entirely since she did bring them but I was sure Onna would do something heavy and womanly on my face.

Sakura smiled, "Would that be alright?"

"Of course. The more the merrier, I think." I plastered on the best smile I could and led Sakura to my room where Onna was waiting patiently. She was very happy when Sakura trailed in behind me shyly.

Onna managed to wrestle my hair into a few loops on the side of my head with the rest trailing rather neatly behind me. She even got a wave going in my usually straight and wild hair. Then Onna tackled Sakura's hair, putting it up into a wrapped updo with very little effort. She stuck a flower into the middle of it and seemed pretty satisfied.

Then came the makeup.

Sakura went first as Onna promised that she was able to do soft makeup for young girls like us. She didn't bother with any kind of foundation for Sakura and instead went straight for her eyes. When she was done Sakura's eyelids glowed softly and brought attention to her lightly lined eyes. She beamed at me with a glossy smile and I resigned myself to Onna's whims.

Like Sakura, Onna didn't bother with my skin and went straight for my eyes. I already could tell she was doing something heavier on me but Sakura was watching with big eyes so I didn't give Onna any attitude. When she was done I eyed myself in the mirror and pursed my lips. My eyes had a dramatic red streak following my black eyeliner. While the wing Onna gave me was definitely on point, I turned to give her the stink eye. My red streak kind of looked like Orochimaru's purple if I tilted my head a bit.

"I think it looks lovely." Sakura said when she saw the look I was giving Onna.

I shrugged, "It's a bit dramatic for a girl my age, isn't it?"

"Nope!" Onna popped the P, "Looks perfect!"

And a knock on the door, followed by Bu announcing he was coming in, saved her from further argument. We met Bu and Kyuketsu in the kitchen where Bu was helping himself to my attempt at making candies. He started choking when we walked in and Kyuketsu was looking at him with masked concern.

"Fu what is in these?" Bu demanded, turning to face us. His mouth dropped and we got a very unflattering view of his tongue that was looking a bit blue from the candy he tried.

I looked at what he ate and laughed, "Bu that was the failed batch! I accidentally didn't use sugar for that."

Kyuketsu eyed it while Bu struggled to find his words. Kyuketsu examined the two batches of candy on the counter, "How did both come out nearly identical? Sugar and salt are very different and should cause the candies to have different consistencies."

"Kyu-Kyu I need you to not attack me like that, thanks." I told him before I waved my hand in front of Bu's face to make sure he was alive. I was strategically taking attention away from my culinary experimentation. Listen, I crave some old life foods okay.

Back to reality.

Bu closed his mouth, "You two look so different!"

Sakura and I shared a look, and I was the one who stated, "I can take offense to that. Are you saying I don't look magnificent, beautiful and majestic every day?"

"You should have just said we look nice." Sakura quipped before putting her hand over her mouth as if she hadn't actually meant to say it.

Bu sputtered, "I-I mean, you look stunning! Both-Both of you do!"

Onna laughed and took over the center of attention, "Let me take a few pictures!"

We spent like twenty minutes with Onna posing us around the yard. Bu wore a formal yukata that was a solid blue that brought out his eyes. Kyuketsu, surprisingly, wore a yukata that was solid burgundy with a high necked shirt underneath it. Actually, I am pretty sure he was wearing a body suit under it but I couldn't confirm it, nor was I going to ask if he was wearing a body suit. Sakura had a red kimono with petal designs all over it and a white obi. I had a colorful kimono with a main blue color that was overtaken by floral patterns at the bottom and went to white and red at the bottom. My obi was a deep red that Onna probably matched to my sharingan and my Orochimaru eyeshadow.

"Finally!" I loudly announced when Onna was done with pictures. We all scattered away from her when she told us to have fun and if Sakura and I could run, we would have ran. The festival was in full swing and the entire market district was transformed. Sakura and Kyuketsu followed Bu and I slowly. Sakura was unsure how to act around my two idiots and Kyuketsu was... himself. While he indeed looked very good, especially considering he wasn't wearing his goggles or his hood, he was still his usual self.

Bu challenged me to the game where you need to catch fish and I was absolutely ready to destroy him. After I thoroughly beat Bu, whose hands were shaky and looked like Kinoe had done some major healing to them, we all got yakitori from a stand. I saw a snow cone stand and the other three almost lost me as I made a beeline for it. I was so excited for my snow cone I couldn't care less about anything else, including how I almost mowed over Temari and Kankuro.

Kankuro and I reached the snow cone stand at the same time and honestly, we could have had a finals match right then and there with how much we were willing to kill each other over a snow cone.

I stepped in front of Kankuro, who hissed, "I haven't had one of those in months!"

"Try years." I retorted. Konoha was a popsicle place. We had the supplies to make popsicles as opposed to actual ice cream because Konoha is more agricultural oriented than livestock. If I wanted ice cream ice cream, I would have to go more towards Iwa and potentially Kumo. Kumo probably had a different variant of cream based ice cream, because I know Iwa is the place to go if you want the closest thing to chocolate ice cream.

Mint chocolate chip is a lost dream, you see.

Kankuro let me get my snow cone first and when I got my first taste I was very disappointed the blue cone was more blueberry than blue raspberry. I should have known and went for the lemon flavored one but I had hopes and dreams for the blue cone. I watched Kankuro pay for his red cone and he looked at me like he had never seen me before.

"Aren't you in the finals?"

I nodded, sucking at the flavor in my cone, "Yeh."

Kankuro decided that was enough interaction and he walked through the crowd with Temari looking at me curiously. My group found me a few moments later and Bu was a bit exasperated when I explained I was ready to fight for a snow cone.

I would have actually killed Kankuro if it was ice cream, by the way.

"What flavor did you get?" Bu questioned as we all walked along the street, observing all the stands.

I answered bluntly, "Disappointment."

"What?"

"Blueberry."

Sakura laughed.

When I finished my snow cone without it melting on me, Bu and I fought over a few more games. I came out on top for most of them although Bu's aim was way better than mine. We ended up buying masks to wear, which Kyuketsu didn't take off once he put on, and Bu was bouncing in place during the fireworks show. Bu got so excited that when he realized there was a booth that sold fireworks, he grabbed my hand and started to run.

I yelled and tried to follow while Kyuketsu picked up his pace and Sakura hurried after him. Bu darted through the crowd like a pro and eventually we made it to the booth he was looking for. Kyuketsu and Sakura were a few moments behind us but Bu forgot about me and was browsing the fireworks by the time they came up to me.

"This maniac." I complained, "He would do this over fireworks."

Kyuketsu turned towards me and I stared into the oni mask, "You just did this over a snow cone."

"Fuck you, Kyu-Kyu."

Sakura laughed again.

The festival went all night but considering Bu and I were supposed to be fighting the next day, we decided to head out after a few more games. We actually got banned from a few when they realized we were ninja so we didn't really get any prizes. We didn't need the prizes anyway and if we did get one, it usually got handed off to a kid. I thanked Sakura for thinking of me and had a kind of awkward goodbye with her before I nodded to Kyuketsu, gave him a thumbs up and a pointed eye waggle, and I wandered off with Bu hurrying to catch up to me.

"That was so much fun!" he announced, "And I got so many ideas from the fireworks!"

"You also spent a small fortune on some." I snorted. Bu blushed and looked away, switching his bag to the hand not next to me as if I would suddenly stop judging him for buying a fuckton of fireworks just because I couldn't see them.

We walked quietly away from the festival until we reached the street where we would part ways. Bu eyed me for a moment, "Do you need me to walk you home?"

"Did you just ask me, a chunin exams finalist, if I need to be walked home?" I retorted, amused.

Bu rolled his eyes, "You got attacked in the compound before. And you're slow in the kimono."

"If someone attacked me with the village security like it is right now, they'd be fucking dumb and dead. I'm fine Bu." I did smile at him though, since he was trying to be nice and I was just bullshitting him, "But thanks for the thought, I suppose. See you tomorrow?"

With an assured grin, Bu nodded, "See you tomorrow, rival."

"Ha!"

We parted in good spirits.

I slept good that night knowing that tomorrow would be the end of the exams but the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. Sasu would be back and hopefully be staying, Bu and I would fight for a title, and everything would be on track.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Yay long chapter!**

 **I've been sick again, but I am hopefully going to be healthy the rest of the summer now! Changed up my medication (Thank you for the advice Ulsindhe!) and I should be cured! Huzzah! It's going to be great that I can write and draw again without feeling drained and just... not there.**

 **I was kind of unsure about the Shisui thing, I was super excited to introduce it because it's been hinted at for awhile, however I got a negative review where someone complained about "sentient chakra bullshit" in regards to Fushicho. I like the idea so I kept it because my story my rules, and the review certainly didn't bother me except in that it sounded more hostile than constructive, and also I really like Shisui as a character and I want him to be here for however long I decide he stays ;) My idea doesn't break any Naruto rules and follows along with things that happen in the show so (Inner Sakura, Minato in the Pein fight, the Tailed Beasts) I am happy with it.**

 **Fun Fact : Fushicho still talks with a lisp! It hasn't been mentioned in awhile due to her bettering her speech however sometimes characters she just meet may remark on it. I just wanted everyone to remember it's there. **

**Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **NinjaDemonAngel (Your review made me smile!)  
Guest  
akagami hime chan (Fu is my fav to write)  
WestOfTheGlass (I'm so sorry I didn't PM reply, thank you so much! *blush*)  
skittlesdeb  
Girl-luvs-manga  
Thomas Drovin**


	27. The Final's Fight

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 27_

 _The Final's Fight_

* * *

The day of the finals was bright and sunny. Waking up that morning, I knew it would be a nice day. As I went about, stretching and doing my usual morning routine, you could feel the general pleasant mood in the air. When I walked to meet up with Bu and Kyuketsu before the finals the village was alive. Civilians were excited to see the matches and were taking bets on who would win.

"Good luck, Fushicho-san!" one of the vendors I usually bought my vegetables from called as I walked past. I waved back and gave him a thumbs up.

When I got to our training grounds, Kyuketsu was reading, as per usual, and Bu was pacing nervously. When I showed up Kyuketsu gave me a wave of acknowledgement and Bu nearly had a stroke.

"Fu I don't want to fight you!" he whined, "Only one of us is going to make it past the first round!"

I was in a pretty good mood so I remarked, with a joking smile that only Kyuketsu saw, "Or neither of us, if it's a draw."

Bu made a noise that sounded like he was about to keel over and die. He sat down and thumped his leg and I wondered if Onna had given him caffeine. We spent an hour stretching together and Kyuketsu joined us for this. Bu seemed to have gotten even more flexible over the month we hadn't trained together although I was able to almost do a full split now. Kyuketsu looked slightly pained as he watched us bend.

"So I bet you learned some new shit, right?" I asked Bu as we got up from stretching and checked the time.

Bu just grinned, "Not telling."

"Fine then, I won't tell you what I learned either." I retorted. Kyuketsu rolled his eyes at us.

It was kind of strange walking into the finals because I had never been in the arena before. It was rarely used and I was a competitor so I went in a different way than the audience. Bu and I split off from Kyuketsu, who gave us what he probably called a heart felt good luck, and we walked in silence. We weren't the first to arrive but there was no one here we would really talk to.

Eventually Bu and I started messing around and played some of the stupid hand games that were popular in the academy. Neji watched us with disdain until Naruto showed up and was pleased to see me.

"Shicho! Where's the teme?" Naruto questioned as he walked up to us.

I shrugged, "Knowing Kakashi-shishou, he'll be late."

Naruto made a face. But then he started to blabber to us about how he met this cool old guy, Jiraiya, who was teaching him how to summon toads. Bu was interested in what he was saying while I tried my hardest not to yawn while I watched the audience. When the crowd was full and mostly seated the exams began with a few long speeches. The anime was nice and cut down a lot on the politics that were actually going on here.

"Where's Uchiha Sasuke?" the proctor questioned.

When no one answered, Genmna looked at me, "Uchiha Fushicho, where is your brother?"

Rather blandly, I stated, "He was training with Kakashi."

Genma made a face. Naruto scowled. Bu choked down a laugh. The other contestants rolled their eyes and looked relatively peeved in different ways when Sasuke's fight was decided to be moved back if he didn't show up.

Everyone cleared the area for the first fight.

Me against Bu.

Bu and I stood across from each other while Genma watched the rest of the genin walk away.

"This is gonna be a good fight, right Fu?" Bu commented.

I nodded, "Hell yeah."

Genma called the match to a start.

Immediately I got the hell out of the way because Bu had wired the arena while we waited earlier. I noticed because I was a sensor and because while Bu did act like he had way too much energy to stand still sometimes, his pacing was never as broad as he was moving before.

Bu pouted, "Saw me, didn't you?"

I didn't even respond to that. I pulled out my tanto and Bu whistled at the sight of it. He attacked first with a few kunai in my direction and I jogged towards the trees. Bu followed and like that, suddenly chakra got involved. I shot into the branches and Bu faltered when he saw how fast I moved.

"Speed training?" he asked, sounding like he suddenly hated life.

I hummed, "Probably."

I felt the flicker of chakra in the tree I was in so I jumped to the next one as an explosion destroyed the tree I had been relaxing in. I moved through the trees while dropping wires but every wire I put down ended up getting blown to shreds. I was getting uncomfortable with the amount of fire in the tree area so I brought the fight back to the dirt. I tried to clothes line Bu but he pulled off an impressive last minute kawarimi and I ended up splintering a smoldering log.

"Son of a fu-!" I blocked a kunai with my tanto.

The problem with Bu and I fighting is I'm quicker than he is which means I can get away from his explosives. The problem I have is I can't get near him because of his close range explosives and his katon jutsu. Bu tried to drop a genjutsu on me but Fushicho sparked her chakra and I pushed it away with my own.

"C'mon, Bu!" I stuck my tongue out at him, "Fight me like a man!"

Bu shot forwards and I met him. There was a clang as my tanto met his kunai and we exchanged rapid blows. I showed off my new Shisui shunshin after a few seconds, appearing behind him and leaving him confused as to what the hell happened. The great part about Shisui's shunshin is even sensors wouldn't have enough time to figure out where you've ended up.

Bu though, seemed to know I would end up behind him. I _guess_ you can usually assume your opponent is going to try for you back.

There was a flicker of chakra beneath us and we both leaped into the air to avoid the explosion below us. The crowd went wild as dirt kicked up and we traded a few kicks in the air. Bu was likely a crowd favorite as his jutsu were flashy and entertaining.

Bu tossed out a stink bomb and I pulled my red bandanna over my nose and I charged in while turning my sharingan on. I probably should have started the match with it on but I was fighting Bu. He couldn't really pull too much over on me. When we landed in the crater Bu smirked and I realized for a moment that I may be in trouble. His fingers, bleeding from the tips, stretched out and he slammed his hand down like he was about to summon something.

The tags that surrounded us all lit up at once and suddenly fire rose up around us. The heat hit me immediately and I broke out into a sweat from the sheer anxiety from being near fire. It arched up into the air and connected in a box above us. Before I could get to Bu to strangle him, flames shot across and made a grid pattern to separate me from Bu.

"Sorry Fu, I got the idea from Haku-san and... I know you're afraid of fire." Bu scratched the back of his head, "Not much of a fair fight but... sensei suggested it."

I held my ground, glowering at Bu and the fire started to close in. I held out for a few more seconds before my legs started to tremble. Bu looked genuinely sorry, especially when my knees gave out. As the fire got closer and it was everything I could see, I felt like I was dying again. The flames never touched me in that stupid box, Bu made sure of it, but let me tell you.

Burning to death is something you will never forget, nor will you see fire in the same way ever again.

I inhaled smoke and that's when Fushicho screamed. Suddenly we were burning in my head and Shisui was confused as fuck. He was trying to put out the fires but I curled downwards and convulsed. Something must have scared Bu terribly because he stopped the flames that separated us and ran towards me. He knelt down by me and I grabbed the dirt. It was nice and cool compared to the air.

I choked, "I forfeit!"

Bu looked trouble, "I'm sorry Fu. Please forgive me."

As the fire around us died out I said again, louder, "I give!"

And that fight ended in Bu's win and my loss.

Bu went to help me up and I smacked his hand away, standing on my own, "I'll remember this, you know."

"Fu-"

I walked towards the competitors stairwell. A good fight, he said? Fuck, that was terrible. Neither of us were even scratched in that fight! Only the arena looked like shit.

Bu jogged to catch up and I hissed, "I'm pissed off at you right now, Obu."

His heart might have just broken in half but I didn't care. I was extremely pissed off. Bu knew I was afraid of fire and specifically used that fear against me. I would have done the exact same thing but I was just... hurt. I would have expected such a thing from Kyuketsu, but Bu? Bu was supposed to be like, I guess my best friend. Neither of them knew how deep my fear ran, nor did they knew what it came from, but that did not mean I would simply forgive Bu for using it against me.

As you can assume, I'm also a bit of a sore loser as well. I was genuinely hurt though.

"Fu c'mon, please don't say my name like that." Bu begged as we climbed the stairs. I ignored him and when we got to the box I settled next to Naruto who pestered me about Sasu. The next two fights weren't even fights. Temari and Kankuro both forfeited giving the wins to Shino and Tenten, respectively. The next fight after that I was actually on the edge of my seat.

It was Gaara vs Lee.

Bu noticed my change of mood and watched, also with bated breath as he remembered Kin's murder, as Lee outran the fuck out of Gaara's sand. I had to use my sharingan to keep up with all of Lee's movements but despite how damn fast Lee was, Gaara's sand armor was nearly impenetrable. Even when Lee hit Gaara it did nothing other than spook the crazed child a bit.

The fight at least didn't end with Lee being crushed. Rather Lee realized nothing he did would hurt Gaara even after he drove Gaara into the floor a few times. So, after encouragement from Gai in the crowd to give up, Lee forfeited.

"I didn't expect that." Tenten murmured. Neji made a noise in agreement.

Sasu's match was almost timed out but he and Kakashi appeared in time. I could hear Sasu complaining about being embarrassed later.

I actually didn't catch most of Sasu's fight. After Gaara came back up the stairs he decided he had to let me know he was disappointed I didn't show off my fire in my fight.

I blinked when I realized Gaara was talking to me and honestly didn't actually catch the first part of what he said, "Uh, sorry?"

"You should have cooked him." Gaara growled, eyeing Bu who inched a bit behind me, "Shown him whose fire is stronger."

Temari and Kankuro were watching from the corner of the room with wide eyes. Temari whispered something to Kankuro and both didn't seem to know what to do.

"Well, I lost so what's done is done." I demurred.

Gaara didn't blink, "Losing means death."

"Not in a tournament." I replied evenly. I was mentally preparing to throw myself out into the arena if Gaara's sand so much as twitched. Then I would Shisui shunshin as far as I could. I could only Shisui shunshin for a few minutes before getting tired as I had only been training for a month. Shisui, who had years under his belt, could shunshin all day. If he wasn't, you know, dead.

There was a cheer from the crowd and we all turned to see Shikamaru had caught Sasu in his shadow and Sasu had to give in or get his head cracked into the wall like Kin in canon. The next fight was entirely canon as it was Naruto against Neji. When Sasu joined us he complained that Kakashi had trained him in speed and taught him something cool that he couldn't use against someone like Shikamaru.

"Well, that sucks." I huffed, "We both lost our matches."

Sasu blinked and rubbed the back of his head, "I missed yours? Sorry."

"It's fine. It was mostly bullshitting and explosions." I shot Bu a displeased glance and he looked down at the arena.

The second round fights were supposed to be Gaara vs Naruto, Shikamaru vs Bu, and Tenten against Shino. But as soon as the Naruto vs Gaara fight started every high ranking shinobi seemed to freak the fuck out, silently since they're high ranked shinobi, and prepare for the worst. It eventually fell into the point where the invasion started just like in canon. Feathers started to fall from the sky as Gaara, shrieking below from a sand mound, exploded outwards and started to run. Naruto, without thinking, yelled after him and chased.

I shrugged off the genjutsu and growled, "Crap."

Sasu was looking where Naruto ran, "Did the moron really just run after him?"

Bu snapped out of the genjutsu as he started to sway, "Holy shit what's happening?"

"Shicho, I'm going after the moron." Sasu announced, jumping out the window and hurrying in the direction Naruto went.

I gaped after him, "Wait come back! Naruto can handle himself!"

Sasu either ignored me or didn't hear me. Temari and Kankuro flew after Sasu and Bu gave me an alarmed look. There was the distant sounds of fighting but I looked at the remaining genin in the booth with us. Lee was up and ready to go while Tenten stood next to him. Shino was unreadable but probably ready to fight while Shikamaru was pretending to take a nap.

I pursed my lips as Kinoe appeared beside me. He put a hand on my shoulder and took in the situation, "Alright. Nara and will you stop pretending to sleep, and Aburame, you two head after Naruto and Sasuke. The rest of you should help with civilian evacuations."

Tenten nodded and Bu, still confused, asked, "Sensei what's going on?"

"We're being invaded." Kinoe said gravely.

Bu sobered up quickly and we ended up finding Kyuketsu but losing Tenten and Lee as we left the arena. Helping civilians was more so protecting them from buildings that were falling due to some of the larger attacks and giant snakes invading the village. There was the occasional enemy who would try to get to a civilian but Bu was typically on them before anything else. Bu really tried to restrain them at first but after awhile seemed to give up and just blow off some limbs. Kyuketsu gave not a single fuck and I knocked out enemies with blows to the back of the head.

We almost got crushed by the giant snake at one point so we hightailed it out of there and ended up near the hospital. Kyuketsu wanted to help out there but the hospital sounded like a target the stronger enemies would head towards.

"This is a terrible idea." I said flatly as we approached the hospital from the side.

Bu shrugged, "It's better than nothing."

I still wasn't talking to him. I was slowly getting over my sourness towards Bu considering the fact we were fighting together, but I hold grudges.

I almost tried to take out Kabuto when he entered my field of vision but I remembered he was masquerading as an ally. I forced a smile on my face, "Kabuto-san! I almost thought you were an enemy for a second. Good thing I looked."

Kabuto smiled easily, "Yes good thing. I found some civilians who need assistance on the outskirts but I need help getting to them. Can you come with me?"

I tried to find a reason to say no but Bu had a bleeding heart, "Of course we can!"

Kyuketsu nodded in agreement and Kabuto pursed his lips briefly, "If you still want to assist the hospital, Fushicho-san will likely be enough to help."

Bu and Kyuketsu shared a brief anxious look at the idea of splitting up and I paused for a moment as I felt Kakashi's chakra leeching to Kabuto's. That gave me an idea. My face must have changed because he tilted his head to the side, "Is something wrong, Fushicho-san?"

"Why do you have Kakashi-shishou's chakra on you?" I asked slowly. I knew exactly why but Bu and Kyuketsu didn't know. They didn't know that the man in front of us was a spy. And they didn't know he worked for Orochimaru. And they didn't know that Kabuto was probably trying to lure me away for being an Uchiha.

A look flashed across Kabuto's face and his smile disappeared, "You've been too perceptive, Fushicho-san. It would have been easier had you just come along willingly."

"Fu?" Bu questioned and Kyuketsu's face tightened at the change of atmosphere.

I drew my tanto without showing how nervous I was, "This guy... I think he's a spy. Probably for Orochimaru."

Kabuto smirked, "So you are as smart as your file says you are."

I swung my tanto widely and put myself in front of Bu and Kyuketsu, "Be careful! Kabuto is probably stronger than he seems."

As I called on my sharingan Kabuto pushed out chakra scalpels. He dove forward and I pushed myself out while ducking under the blades. We both turned and Kabuto slipped past my swing as I felt something strange cut through my left arm. Immediately my fingers felt numb and I lost all ability to move them. I held my tanto with my right hand and bit my lip.

There was no way even the three of us together could take Kabuto even now while he's at his weakest point in canon. We just had to hope someone would come along and help while we held our ground.

This proved to be no simple task as Kabuto easily dispatched Kyuketsu's first summon and he was too nimble for Bu's bombs to be any affect. Even with our new training neither Bu nor I could do anything to surprise him. I almost lost the use of my right arm a few times trying to hit him with my tanto but I managed to pullback each time. When Bu singed a bit of his clothes after all three of us managed to get in sync, Kabuto kicked Kyuketsu so hard he went through the fence and into the building beside the hospital.

"Kyuketsu!" Bu yelled, turning towards the hole to see if he was alright. I bit my lip.

Fushicho whispered, "Call on me. You know you need me."

But I refused. Kabuto wasn't Orochimaru. If we kept doing what we were doing eventually someone more matched to his level would come along to save us. We were right next to the hospital: someone would find us.

Kabuto, as the fight paused, smiled again, "Fushicho-san. If you come with me I won't even hurt your friends."

I narrowed my eyes. I didn't believe him in the slightest. Kabuto was not someone I would trust with anything like that.

We engaged again. Fighting Kabuto was difficult because I couldn't parry and counter like I could with physical weapons. Chakra scalpels are dangerous in that they completely numb my nerves and I can't even force myself to fight through the pain like I could with a cut. I couldn't do anything about them and that sucked.

Kabuto wasn't a flashy fighter which meant I had to be a flashy fighter. I was quick and continued to use my Shisui shunshin but Kabuto wasn't phased. I wasn't good enough yet that I could use it in a fight against a greater opponent. Bu rejoined the fight and Kabuto changed his aim from me to Bu. The tide of the fight switched in that now I became focused on guarding Bu from Kabuto's swipes. Bu got nicked in the leg as Kabuto aimed low and he went down with a yelp.

Without thinking I felt flames tickle my fingertips as I reached for Kabuto's neck. He swung his arm and I didn't feel any pain as his scalpel disconnected the nerves in my right arm and it fell to my side, limp and useless like my left arm. I jumped back and Kabuto put his foot on Bu's chest, pushing him back and pinning him.

"Well, Fushicho-san?" Kabuto asked, smirking, "Will you come now?"

My mouth was dry. I didn't want anything to happen to Bu, or Kyuketsu who was probably unconscious where he got kicked. But at the same time I had Shisui's eye in my eye socket and my own life to think about.

I didn't have to answer though as the world suddenly warped in a violent genjutsu that made me shudder as I released it. Kabuto was a second too late in getting out of the genjutsu as a heeled foot kicked him farther than Kyuketsu had gone. Kabuto's feet made trenches in the ground as he tried to stop and he brought a hand to his chest. It glowed green and he wiped a trail of blood away from the corner of his mouth.

Onna stood in front of her son beside me. She looked at me with a smile despite the fact she looked incredibly tired. She was dressed in full jonin attire with her hair pulled into a long braid that had wire intertwined in it. Blood and dirt was smudged on her pants and she had an empty pouch where she likely stored her kunai and shuriken.

"I don't appreciate you picking on my son and my future daughter." Onna huffed, crossing her arms.

Bu made a groaning noise as he sat up, "Mooooom."

"Shush, Uchiha grandbabies sound perfect." Onna cracked her fists and produced a pair of iron knuckles from seals inked into her pouch.

Kabuto finished healing himself and started to walk our way, "I'm afraid that won't be happening."

Onna only pushed chakra into her iron knuckles and their fight began. Kabuto's chakra blades seemed suddenly less useful as Onna was a dangerous mid-close range fighter. Watching Onna fight gave me some idea of what Bu someday wanted to be. She fought in a boxer's stance with explosive punches. Literal explosive punches. Her fists probably hurt with the knuckles but the real danger came from being in front of her hits. The explosions shot outwards and hit anything about two feet in front of it.

Turns out Onna could also do kicks like these. Kabuto found out after almost losing his head to one. Unfortunately he ducked and tried to hit her other leg. Onna did a majestic flip and I felt a genjutsu get cast on the area. Kabuto was out of it just as quickly as I was and he got the hell out of the way of another punch. She used a katon jutsu for a long range attack although she clearly didn't want to hit any of the buildings and light them on fire.

With this disadvantage something told me she was severely limited in what she could do.

Onna started with an advantage but as the fight drew out, she started to lose her head on Kabuto. She was already tired from helping around the village and Kabuto was mostly fresh aside from dealing with us for a bit and whatever happened with Kakashi. I wanted to help her but I was only a genin, no match for a fight between two jonin level fighters. I was also unable to use my arms besides moving my shoulders and flapping my noodle arms around.

But then, it was like we could all tell when Onna put everything she had on a final shot.

Onna wound up a clear punch and dashed forward before jumping and propelling herself forward with two explosions from her feet. Kabuto struck forwards and she shifted and stopped herself despite her momentum, an impressive feat that showed Onna had trained her body to its max potential. She turned and brought a roundhouse kick straight to his knees. Kabuto buckled forward but a nasty grin came across his lips as he jabbed forward.

I choked when I saw a chakra scalpel protruding from Onna's back. Bu scrambled to get up but his leg was preventing him from doing anything. Onna staggered backwards towards us and toppled backwards like a domino. She landed in a back slap out and promptly coughed up a full mouthful of blood. Kabuto put a hand to his horribly broken and sideways knee as Bu army crawled to his mother.

"Onna-san!" I knelt beside her and she shook her head.

"I took that risk. Finish him before he heals himself." Onna closed her eyes as Bu reached her and shoved his face into her shoulder, crying. She wrapped her arm around him and pet his hair. She kissed his head and brought her other hand to my face.

Her eyes softened, "Fushicho-chan. I'm sorry to put the burden on you, but please remember what I want."

"Uchiha grandbabies?" I whispered. But we both knew she was referring to keeping Bu safe.

Onna smiled faintly as blood started to dribble from her nose, "As many as I can get."

I stood up and left Bu to his mother. Turning to Kabuto, I was outraged.

I had never felt this angry in my entire life. Rage was boiling through my body and Fushicho was laughing hysterically in my mind. Shisui sounded a bit worried but he got shut out as I heard a few of Onna and Bu's whispered goodbyes.

I screamed and flames circled my feet and I charged forward. My arms swung uselessly at my side but I was too hysterical to really know what to do. Kabuto got the hell out of the way as I barreled towards him like a bull. I stopped and turned, growling as Kabuto tried to fix his knee in a hurry.

"I'm going to fucking RIP YOUR HEART OUT!" my voice mixed with Fushicho's as I, or maybe even we, charged again. I felt the fire climbing my legs and coming to my waist. I flew at Kabuto in a flying sidekick and I caught sight of my leg, entirely engulfed in fire. I splintered a log instead of Kabuto and I turned around again, locating his chakra at the end of the street. I charged him again and smoke started to rise from my throat. Kabuto wasn't sure what to do as I relentlessly went after him. I was a half a human fireball at this point and I was angry.

Finally, Kabuto seemed to deem me not worth this, and he started to run up the hospital to get away. I gave chase and we rushed up the building. I only felt slightly bad about the scorch marks I was leaving behind. When we reached the top Kabuto did a flip and spat, not water at me, but fire.

I screamed as his fire touched me and I promptly covered my face with what part of my arms I could move (I could move my shoulders so I essentially tried to catch the fire) as I slipped off the side of the building. I saw white when his fire scorched my arms and engulfed my upper half. I fell freely and only managed to catch myself on the building by the ground. I let myself slide off gently and I rolled on the floor to get rid of the constant feeling of burning. As I fell I must have lost my flames because nothing was left on me, not my fire nor Kabuto's fire.

I writhed for a few moments but I came back to my senses when Bu let out a noise that sounded like a banshee. I crawled over to him and Onna to find Onna's chest was no longer moving. Her eyes were open and still looking at Bu but had no focus anymore. I closed them while Bu tried to shove his face into her shoulder. I felt like the world was coming down around us and all I could do was sit there and watch.

We couldn't have been there for too long until Kinoe came to find us. But Bu came back to his senses, kind of, before he got there.

"Why didn't you stop him!" Bu screamed and for a moment I didn't realize he was talking to me. His eyes were red and his nose dribbling more than his puffy eyes.

I opened my mouth but couldn't think of anything to say and Bu continued, "He-he said he was here for you! Why? WHY?"

"It... it's probably... I'm an Uchiha." I stammered, feeling flustered and upset.

Bu shook his head, "Why did my mom have to die for you?"

I felt like I got hit in the heart. I would have grabbed my chest had my hands worked.

"You... you've always been the center." Bu babbled, "As a kid you were mean and no one said anything because you're an Uchiha! That's not a reason my mom should have died for YOU though!"

"She-she didn't die for-for me, Bu. Yo-"

Bu cut me off, "Now we're back to Bu? Now that my mom's dead you think calling me Bu can fix this?!"

This was terrible timing considering I was mad at him earlier. But how could I stay mad when we had been fighting together for our lives, and when his mom died in front of us? I'm a terrible person, and I'm aware of it. But I'm not this terrible.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" I yelled back.

Bu growled, "Fuck, Fushicho! I'm, sometimes you're just so hard to deal with! Like even back in fucking Wave, everything was centered around you!"

I blinked, "The fuck-?"

"That woman knew you! And you wouldn't even tell me, I thought we were friends! Teammates! Something! But you're, you're just terrible. I've tried, tried waiting for you to open up. I care so damn much about your selfish, entitled ass but you're just, sometimes I just can't help but be angry! And now, even my own mom's dea...death is centered around you!" Bu started to cry heavily and I teared up a bit myself.

"Bu you're just being emotional-" I tried to reason why he could possibly be like this now.

"Shut up! Just... just shut up. I need to be alone. My mom's... she's gone, now. She's, actually, not coming back." Bu fell back and closed his eyes, "And I'm going to be honest, I blame you. If you weren't here, he wouldn't have come for you, and... and my mom wouldn't... she'd be here. With me."

I felt some tears start to boil over and I cried silently. I didn't want to disturb Bu. I started to push myself away and Bu curled into a ball on his side. I heard a mournful, "Mommy." come from him and I let a sob come out. I curled onto my side, facing the hospital wall, and I shoved my face into my knee to try and silence myself.

Kinoe arrived to a mess with two crying preteens who couldn't talk to each other.

We had to wait for a medic for what felt like ages. Kyuketsu was perfectly fine although he was looking between Bu and I like we would explode. Kinoe determined he didn't have a concussion and nothing broken from his travels through walls. Kinoe also made sure we had nothing life threatening to worry about and when he determined we would be fine he left us to the medics after fixing our limbs. He explained he was needed in surgeries and to supervise nurses attending to jonin.

With my arms fixed, I left and went my separate way from Bu and Kyuketsu. I walked home feeling like a zombie as I passed crushed buildings and frantic families. I wasn't sure what Kinoe had done with Onna's body but I wasn't sure I was invited to the funeral after my last conversation with Bu. The compound was somehow entirely untouched and when I got home I collapsed on the couch and looked at my arms. They were a bit crispy and blistering from Kabuto's fire. My legs also hurt and were blistering over from where my own fire got out of control. My clothes were entirely ruined, the sleeves and front of my collar entirely burned away. My shorts were singed and almost entirely black but were still covering everything important despite the frequent holes.

Sasu arrived home tired and dirty probably hours after I crashed to mourn on the couch. When he walked in he almost jumped when he saw me, laying like a corpse, on the couch.

"Shicho! What happened?!" he knelt down and looked at my arms in concern. He grabbed burn ointment and started to dress my wounds while I just... disassociated. I ignored Fushicho's taunts and Shisui's concerned, but quiet, questions. When my wounds were dressed Sasu rolled me over and put a cool cloth on my forehead.

"Sis, what happened?" He asked, kneeling beside me.

I sighed deeply and broke my silence, "Onna-san's dead."

Sasu hissed as he breathed in deeply, not expecting that. He was silent for a few minutes.

"How is Bu?" Sasu inquired.

I moaned, "Mad as hell at me. Probably heartbroken."

"Why would he be mad-"

I cut Sasu off, "The guy who killed Onna-san was a spy for Orochimaru. He was after me. She died because of me, damn it."

"She didn't die because of you," Sasu retorted, "She died for you. There's a difference."

"No there really isn't." I huffed, rolling onto my side and giving Sasu my back. He was clearly tired so he said goodnight and went to his room.

I didn't sleep that night. I stared out the window until the sun rose and a new day dawned.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Honestly I have been waiting for that fight between Bu and Fushicho forever. They needed conflict, real conflict, in their relationship. Fushicho relied too heavily on him and now Bu needs to be able to rely on her and let out the stress he's been feeling over her general nature.**

 **I think Bu went through every potential emotion ever in this chapter, btw.**

 **No but Onna is gone and I'm SO SAD I LOVED HER AND FU.**

 **So I was having trouble naming the chapter and I wanted it to be the Final Fight but that would allude to there being a death and what would you all do if I just killed Fushicho and that was the end of the story. Literally there's no resolution to anything I've set up just BOOM DEAD END.**

 **Fun Fact : I made the team in Sims 4 and Bu is the most unique faced Sim I have ever created and I love him. Also, Sim Fu and Sim Bu make really cute kids together. But spoiler, Sim Fu makes cute kids with Kyuketsu too and even bland faced Kinoe. I play Sims 4 for the genetics, okay. Don't judge me.**

 **Honestly, special thanks to Thomas Drovin and Girl-luvs-manga for always reviewing something, even on the meh chapters. 3 I think of you guys when I'm trying to get a chapter going.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:  
**

 **XxPrincessKanjixX  
MegannAlyssaa  
Ilikebob (Your name is familiar, FF might have done a thing)  
Girl-luvs-manga  
Anerali (Point)  
Thomas Drovin  
**


	28. Emotional Haze

**Out of the Ashes**

 _Chapter 28_

 _Emotional_ _Haze_

* * *

I didn't leave the couch until two days after the exams when Sasu was tired of me moping and tossed me over his shoulder and threw me in the bath. I washed up and checked to see how my burns were healing, which was rather nicely, and I changed into new clothes. I almost broke down into tears when I saw the things Onna bought me and I had to sit down and gather strength again.

Sasu made breakfast while I was washing up and coming back to the world of the living. We ate slowly while Sasu talked about the progress on the repairs around the village and how we should probably go to the Third's funeral in a few days. I agreed on that even though the Hokage wasn't really that important to me, personally.

I wondered when Onna's funeral was.

As if knowing what I was thinking, Sasu handed me a leaflet. I looked at it in confusion and he explained, "It lists the funerals of the shinobi killed in action during the invasion. Onna-san is the week after next."

I put the leaflet down like it would burn me. That was kind of morbid that there was a leaflet, like one of those things you get at a kids play that says all their names and who they played, for this. Sasu took back the leaflet and we finished breakfast in silence.

.

I ended up doing errands with Sakura for the mandatory D ranks that followed the Hokage's funeral. Sasu and Naruto were slotted for heavier lifting so Sakura was left to an easier task considering her arm. My team was actually considered broken up since Kinoe was stuck in the hospital doing surgeries still, Bu was out because of Onna, and Kyuketsu could be counted as helping with his clan. So Sakura and I had the morbid task of searching through the rubble where the giant snakes decimated the buildings. Sakura was actually a message runner but she helped out searching the buldings that weren't squashed and were only half taken out.

I removed the heavier rocks while Sakura kept watch and spotted for me in case there was a structural collapse.

"I'm surprised you're not with your team." Sakura commented as we broke through a wall into the next room of a house. It was clear of bodies so we moved on to get into the next one.

I didn't respond for a few seconds, "We're... fighting, right now."

Sakura was surprised, "You three always got along so well though!"

"Yeah well, Bu is mad at me now and I don't really want to face him." I admitted, "I don't think I could take what he'll say to me."

Sakura hummed, "No one wants to hear bad things from their friends but sometimes it's necessary."

As I broke into a room that smelled very not clear, I wrinkled my nose, "That sounds very adult and wise of you. Where did you hear that phrase?"

"Ino's dad." Sakura smiled.

We both frowned when we saw the body that was stinking up the room. I fanned my nose as we backed out of the room. Sakura went to go get one of the chunin so they could seal up the body into a scroll while I skirted around the outside of the room to see if there were multiple bodies. There were two, a mother and a daughter, both dead from what appeared to be chunks of the second floor breaking open their skulls. The mother was on top of her daughter, shielding her with her body as if it could have saved her.

I stared, deep in thought until I realized the chunin was in the room to get them.

"Did you find identification?" he asked me, breaking me out of my reverie.

I shook my head, "I'll keep searching the room. I didn't check their bodies."

The chunin grumbled about how back in his day, he was a rather old chunin corps member, genin lugged bodies off the battlefield without batting an eye. I ignored him and found a note from what I assumed to be the family's father and son. Apparently they were out of the village and wanted the girls to have fun at the exam festival. There was a half written reply with an attached picture of the girl in a kimono.

I looked away from that, it was depressing. The chunin found identification on the mother so I was allowed to leave the room. Sakura met me outside and we both shared uncomfortable glances. But we continued into the next building. We found only a few bodies that day but every single one of them was equally scarred into our minds.

.

The next day we had an off day and I actually spent my time with Sakura after Sasu ditched me with her. Apparently I was "making a good female friend for once" and I should "keep trying" so that I don't scare off Sakura. Bah, what does Sasu know anyway?

Sakura's idea of fun and mine was drastically different. My idea of fun was relaxing, eating some snacks, maybe walking around the village and seeing the sights. Sakura on the other hand wanted us to shop for clothes, civilian clothes at that, brush each others hair, and talk about boys. Well, the shopping thing lasted really only an hour. Sakura tried on some long sleeved clothes but she was clearly unhappy every time she looked in the mirror. The shopping district was also relatively bare with a lot of shops closed to either be repaired or the owners were helping out somewhere. Or dead. But hopefully not.

Brushing each others hair and talking about boys was done simultaneously on Sakura's bed. I was sitting on her bed while she sat on the floor, tugging the brush soothingly through my mane.

"I wish Sasuke-kun would notice me." admitted Sakura as she magically soothed me just by brushing my hair, "It's just... he's always so distant with me. When I see him with you or Naruto he's so alive and happy."

I shrugged, "Sasu mood swings sometimes. I swear. He's your typical brother though-a piece of shit sometimes, and other times caring." That's what a brother is, right?

"To you. But to me... I don't know."

I hummed, "I think before you pursue him romantically you should focus on yourself."

Sakura paused in brushing my hair, "Do you mean my arm?"

I actually did not, I meant she should stop being a wimp but the arm is probably an issue too. I'm just not that much of an asshole to bring it up!

"No, I meant you should train everything. You should..." I decided to say fuck it, "Listen to this suggestion. Have you ever thought about being a medic?"

"A one handed medic?" Sakura laughed harshly and pulled herself up on the bed next to me.

"Yeah, you only need one hand for medical ninjutsu. You'd still be a support but then you could boss Sasu and Naruto around and they'd have to acknowledge you can do something they can't." I have to admit, I was bullshitting as best I could. The Hokage died which meant Tsunade would be retrieved and then Sakura could learn from her. But until then, "Let's go visit the hospital today. We can ask my sensei to help you." I am still salty about the eye thing, but I can get over that.

Sakura was bewildered, "Today? I never agreed!"

I just grinned at her, "How about now?"

Sakura sputtered and I pushed myself off the bed. I turned around and she bit her lip at me before agreeing, "Alright. I can try it, I suppose..."

We walked to the hospital with an awkward air around us after Sakura tried to ask about how I felt about Bu and I promptly reminded her that Bu was mad as hell at me and that I would never like him as more than my stupid friend. Specifically the stupid one, Kyuketsu's the smart one.

At the hospital I walked around like I owned the place and since it was so busy no one questioned one of Kinoe's students wandering the halls. We went through each hallway looking for him until I spotted a slightly familiar guy in one of the private patient rooms. We locked eyes and he turned a bit pale.

I paused, "Kankuro?"

Kankuro sputtered. I stepped inside with Sakura following me. Kankuro watched us walk in nervously and I looked at him, confused.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

His eyes shifted down to his hands, "It's confidential."

"Bullshit." I accused him, "You'd be locked up tight if you were holding information that sensitive."

Kankuro huffed, "I was hurt in the invasion and that stupid girl I was supposed to fight brought me here."

"Tenten?" Sakura helpfully supplied when I blanked on who he was supposed to fight. I almost asked Shino, but Shino was definitely not supposed to be mistaken for feminine.

Kankuro nodded, "I'm stuck here while Temari and... Gaara, got to go home..."

"What about politics?" I questioned, "I'm sure you're not that bad of a guy but you probably shouldn't be in our hospital."

He shrugged and I took a seat in his visitors chair while Sakura pulled up another one. He said, "Temari said your brother and that stupid blonde kid managed to stop Gaara. Something they said to him made him change his mind about... life."

"Sasu didn't come home much different than usual that night..." I think anyway. To be honest I was so wrapped up in my own problems if Sasu was facing his own demons I wouldn't have noticed. Did Sasu know about Naruto now? And what could Sasu have said to Gaara?

Sakura though smiled proudly, "Sasuke-kun is a nice person. I'm sure he helped Gaara-san."

"I bet it was all Naruto," I snorted, "The kid is basically a walking and talking ball of sunshine who doesn't give up."

I think both Sakura and I heard 'Believe it!' echo through our heads at that moment. She shivered and gave me a slight nod.

Kankuro shifted in his bed, "What are you gonna do about your arm?"

Sakura froze, "Excuse me?"

I glared at Kankuro who seemed to have realized that was not a good topic to change to. He shifted awkwardly again, "Sorry. I was just thinking..."

"Of?" I prompted.

"Well, what about a replacement for your arm?" Kankuro suggested. He looked away when Sakura and I shared a thoughtful look. In the back of my mind Fushicho sounded pleased.

"Like your puppet?" Sakura questioned, "I'm not sure how to do that though..."

"Maybe after you train yourself back up you can try it." I hummed, "It's definitely not a bad idea. We just don't have the connections to get an arm for you." You know, unless we go get the scroll with her actual cut off arm in it. That's definitely not what Kankuro meant though.

Before the conversation could go anywhere else a head stuck itself into the doorway. Kinoe eyed me curiously, "What are you doing here, Hime?"

"Sakura wants to be a medic." I told him and Sakura sputtered for a moment, hissing at me "I never said that!"

Kinoe looked at Sakura with a big grin, "That's perfect actually. Come with me, Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked at me with a 'What have you done' look. But she followed Kinoe out and almost as an after thought Kinoe yelled at me to get the hell out of his hospital. Apparently my broody chakra was distracting to him. I bet he just wanted me out before I fucked something up. Regardless, I did say goodbye to Kankuro to be polite and on my way out I passed Tenten. That was pretty interesting to me but we didn't know each other well enough yet where I would stop her and ask what she was doing. I did give her a wave though since we technically fought together in the invasion for a few minutes before we lost each other.

As I walked through the village, gazing about at the construction, a familiar chakra smothered itself just inside my radius.

Ita.

My body froze for a moment. I was able to mentally follow his chakra only because I felt it before he smothered it. If I hadn't felt that initial ping then I would have never known he was there. He was walking slowly and my body started towards the chakra before I was really thinking. When I did realize I was heading towards him I wondered what the point was.

Was Ita really my brother anymore?

He was really Itachi at this point, years of distance between us. But I knew that regardless if he were Ita or Itachi he was still someone who cared for his younger siblings. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to gamble on what he would do to me if I actually interacted with him but I could totally walk past him and feign ignorance.

I felt Naruto and Sasu as I got closer to Ita's chakra. They were sitting at Ichiraku's, unsurprisingly, and I figured I could join them. Ita's chakra was in a sweets shop a bit down the road from Ichiraku's and I peered inside as I walked past. Ita looked older, as to be expected, but the real thing that shocked me was the fact that Kisame was actually blue and actually really big. I questioned how they managed to get in the village considering they weren't even bothering to hide who they were other than a hat.

I kept walking although I could feel a pair of eyes on me as I moved. Ita's chakra shifted and he moved towards the street. He must have been watching to see where I was going. I slipped onto the stool next to Sasu at Ichiraku's and Naruto greeted me enthusiastically.

"Yo." I replied and Sasu asked me how my time was with Sakura.

I grinned, "I pawned her off on sensei."

Sasu made a face, "Why?"

"Secret." I retorted, ordering a shio ramen. I was so focused on Ita's chakra so as he crept a little closer I could feel it. I was sweating a bit from nerves but Sasu didn't seem to notice my anxiety.

Naruto leaned over, "Sakura-chan is with Kinoe-oji?"

I smacked my hands down on the counter, "That's fucking right! Naruto, I never asked how things are going with you two."

Not in the slightest taken aback by my outburst, Naruto started to ramble, "Kinoe-oji keeps trying to avoid me! He seems kind of sad when he looks at me but no way am I letting him get away! I found out I had an uncle, actual living family! I mean, he showed me to Pervy Sage which was awesome, I learned some cool stuff and we're supposed to leave tomorrow to train and look for someone."

I hummed, "Kinoe-sensei is a bit of an asshole."

"He is!" Naruto agreed happily, "But he's cool too! I wonder if my mom had hair like his?"

I imagined Kushina with a mohawk, "Maybe she had red hair. But definitely not as crazy as sensei's style."

Sasu, who had apparently heard enough of this topic already, groaned, "Shicho, I've heard about his 'cool' uncle too many times."

"I haven't though." I retorted.

Apparently feeling like a little shit today, Sasu remarked, "Then why don't I ask you about Bu? Onna-san's funeral is in four days."

I sulked for a few moments, "Listen, I really don't want to talk about that."

"But you're clearly upset and it's weird that Bu and Kyuketsu haven't barged in the last few days." Sasu grumbled, "While I think Bu's full of shit sometimes, he's been a good friend for a long time."

Teuchi placed my ramen in front of me and I thanked him. As I snapped apart my chopsticks I told Sasu, "Things are rough right now."

"Why? Why are they so bad between you two?" Sasu huffed, "You never tell me anything."

"Why do you care about how things are between Bu and I, huh?" I slurped up some ramen and Sasu made a face before turning to his own bowl.

"I care because you sat on the couch for three days after mumbling nonsense at me!" Sasu growled as he started at his ramen again.

I swallowed my mouthful, "It's my fault Onna-san died. If I hadn't been there then she would be home right now with Bu. And we all knew it was my fault."

"You can't blame yourself for that Shicho." Sasu said, a bit softer than he had been before, "Onna-san didn't give her life for you to blame yourself."

"You don't get it, Sasu." I managed to finish my ramen at Naruto speed and I shoved off my stool. I almost entirely forgot about Ita until I walked pretty much right past him. I looked up and found a pair of black eyes looking at me. I kept walking, as if I hadn't just seen him. When I was a distance away I hopped onto the roofs and ran home.

.

It occurred to me the next day that Naruto was leaving with Jiraiya. And I only realized because Sasu was going with him. But since we fought the day before Sasu only left a note saying where he would be and I was pissed off. I was pissed off at myself and at him. I ran out of the house like I was on fire and I ran right past Kyuketsu who was apparently on his way to see me. His chakra flashed in alarm but I didn't stop until I was at the gate Sasu said he was leaving out of.

I looked at the gate guards, "Did Jiraiya leave yet?"

They looked at each other as if debating to tell me and I growled, "My brother, Uchiha Sasuke, was supposed to be with him. And Uzumaki Naruto."

One guard spoke up as I flashed my sharingan to show them I really was Uchiha Fushicho, "They left about an hour ago."

Kyuketsu caught up to me as I was brooding about what I could do to strangle Sasu. He was a bit out of breath and he gasped out, "Kinoe-sensei is in the hospital."

I blinked, "Like, as a patient?"

Kyuketsu nodded, "He was with Kakashi-san when they ran into Uchiha Itachi."

I was pretty concerned, "And Kakashi-shishou?"

"Fine." Kyuketsu, a bit confused, replied.

I started to run again but Kyuketsu grabbed the back of my shirt and we both ended up on the ground, our heads cracking together.

I rolled over and grabbed the back of my head, "Fuck! Why?"

"Why are you running!?" Kyuketsu retorted, grabbing the front of his head.

"I need to-need to... I'll figure it out when I get there!" I stood up and started to run again. I heard Kyuketsu utter a few choice words and he started to follow me. I jumped to the roofs and I pushed my range as far as I could to locate Kakashi. I found him outside the hospital as if he knew I would be heading there. I crashed down beside him and almost lost my balance but he caught me with one arm.

"I see you heard." Kakashi murmured.

I looked up at him, "Sasu left the village with Jiraiya! We need to go after him."

"Why?" Kakashi cocked his head to the side and I struggled to formulate what I wanted to say. I couldn't say I wanted to find Sasu because he was going to run into Itachi, who wanted Naruto. And what about Kinoe? He wasn't supposed to be in a coma, what if he died? What if something terrible happened? Or something terrible happens in the future?

Kyuketsu landed next to me and I waved my hands around as I tried to say something intelligent, "I need to find Sasu. I have a bad feeling about Ita and Sasu meeting."

Kakashi sighed, "I suppose we should get going then if we want to catch up to them. Please get your weapons quickly and meet me at the gate."

Kyuketsu blinked, "That's dangerous isn't it? Bringing Fushicho to Itachi?"

"The only one in danger is going to be Sasu when I get my hands on him!" I announced but my anxiety was leaking through and Kyuketsu looked unimpressed by my outburst.

I was concerned. I didn't like that Sasu went with Naruto and Jiraiya. I felt like things were moving too quickly. If anything was going to happen I wanted to be there to stop it as best I could. Fighting Ita and Kisame would be like fighting Orochimaru all over again but I couldn't just sit by and do nothing. I didn't want to sit by and watch like I did with Onna's fight against Kabuto.

If you're wondering, no, I don't have a plan. When do I ever have a plan?

Kakashi flickered away and I turned to start running again. Kyuketsu stopped me with his words, "Hello Bu."

I looked over my shoulder and Bu looked a bit surprised to see me at the same time. He looked a bit ashamed and I shook my head. I didn't have time for this.

"Shut the fuck up, Kyuketsu. I'm not sitting aside while Sasu has to face Ita! He doesn't have to do it alone." I whispered, "I'm not losing him too."

I was overemotional. Kakashi was probably going along with me because he knew I was going whether it was allowed or not. And I was scared. I just lost Onna and Kinoe swapped with Kakashi's role. Sasu was with Naruto, not following behind. Too much could go wrong.

"Fu-" Bu began but I didn't hear anything else as I shot onto a roof and ran towards the compound. I grabbed my weapons quickly and I was out the door while still trying to put my tanto on.

At the gate Kakashi was already waiting and as soon as I got there we were off. Kakashi kept speed with me and as I got tired I refused to acknowledge it. The sun started to dip as we arrived at the town Kakashi said Jiraiya was likely to spend the night in. When we got there a fight was already happening on the outskirts of the town. Jiraiya faced Itachi and Kisame while a clone of Jiraiya's was holding a shaking Sasu back. Naruto was laying in what appeared to be a crater of all things and I was angry.

I was angry they weren't fighting in that hotel. I was angry Naruto was hurt. I was just angry in general.

"ITACHI." I roared as we landed on the battlefield, "What the fuck did you do to Kinoe-sensei!"

Sasu's head swiveled violently to look at me, "Shicho!?"

Itachi pinched his nose, as if everything was going in the way he did not want it to. Kisame eyed me and grinned, revealing a row of entirely sharp teeth, "You have a little sister too?"

"Fushicho." Itachi acknowledged.

I seethed, and Sasu popped Jiraiya's clone to come stand by me. Both of us stared down Itachi and our sharingan whirled into existence. Sasu took off his glasses and shoved them in his pouch, probably because he wanted to look like a bad ass.

Kakashi smacked me upside the head, "Don't look into his eyes! You know better."

I turned to growl at him and beside me, Sasu crumpled to the floor. My chakra oozed out around us and I closed my eyes. I could feel everyone around me like this without my eyes being open. Kisame was the only real problem, Samehada eating away at my chakra, but I knew he was the chakra void in my range so as long as I stayed away from him I'd be fine.

Jiraiya said, "Kakashi, why'd you bring the kid along? She's no match for her brother."

"I'm really angry right now," I admitted, "And I just want to knock some sense into both of my stupid brothers!"

And as we know, I don't really think when I'm angry.

I dashed forward before Kakashi could pull me back and as I approached Itachi I opened my eyes wide, staring right into his. As I expected the world around me shifted and Fushicho screamed in anger. While I stared down Itachi in this void the world violently shifted to my dungeon. Shisui rattled in his cage and Fushicho lurked up on the throne.

Itachi looked around in mild surprise, "What is all this?"

"Itachi! Shicho's mind is scary! Get out of here!" Shisui yelled from his cage. Itachi looked startled by Shisui's presence.

I looked at Itachi and shook angrily, "You're working with Kinoe-sensei aren't you? Why did you do that to him? Why not Kakashi-shishou?"

What if Kinoe was punished by his so called Law of Canon for this? What if that were to be Bu or Kyuketsu who died?

Itachi stood still, "Why did you open your eyes?"

"Because I know, Ita!" I replied, "I know."

He became very, very still, "What do you know?"

And I almost said it. I almost spilled the beans. But I didn't. I managed to hold on to my secrets.

"That you're a liar. That you wouldn't really hurt me. Kinoe-sensei gave me Shisui's eye because of you." I replied and Shisui sputtered from his cage.

Itachi didn't say anything. He just looked at me sadly.

"Sleep for awhile, Shicho-chan." he finally murmured,

He tried to leave but I latched on with my chakra, "Fuck! That! I'm mad! You almost doomed Sasu to a terrible life! And I'm just angry at everything right now!"

Itachi pulled harder, and I screamed, "Don't you fucking try to leave-!"

He left. Fushicho started screaming. I started screaming. Shisui was yelling in panic.

Fushicho grabbed my mind and pushed. You know what fucking hurts? Chakra being forcefully run through your entire body. If my mind's body could have a sore throat from screaming it would. Around us my mind was shaking with effort and Shisui's cage was violently swinging.

And then Fushicho gave a final shove.

.

I opened my eyes to the sky and clouds. I must have woken with a gasp because Jiraiya was standing over me after a few seconds.

"You're awake?" he was surprised, "It should have been impossible to wake up from that."

I groaned, "I have a migraine."

I rolled over. I was in between Sasu and Kakashi. I sat up and almost immediately regretted it. My world spun and I crawled away a bit to puke. My mind was surprisingly light and I couldn't hear Fushicho or Shisui at all. I could feel them though and that was reassuring.

Jiraiya was nice enough to grab my hair and hold it back as I dry heaved. I eventually spit up some phlegm but other than that my stomach was mostly empty. I sat by the fire with Jiraiya as I tried to get my senses back. My chakra felt slow and weak. I couldn't sense anything that wasn't in the immediate area and I ended up heaving again when Jiraiya offered me some water.

I didn't hear anything Jiraiya tried to talk to me about while my head was pounding and eventually, I entirely blacked out. I didn't see Fushicho or Shisui while unconscious. I was genuinely and truly by myself for once.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I actually hate this chapter. It started off spectacular and then I just, it ran away on its own? Like, I ended it here because I was simply unable to write more. I don't want to write Jiraiya right now, I didn't want to draw out the Itachi thing. I was so excited for her to meet him again but then I realized how powerless Fushicho actually is. She wouldn't be able to go after them on her own and she wouldn't tell Itachi about her thing. Fushicho just gets emotional over things.**

 **HEY, I put up a new story. It's another story about a reborn, but this one is more focused on the central character who isn't as terrible a person as Fushicho. Well. She's not a broody teenager the entire story. Also, there is less a focus on OCs like Bu, Kinoe, and Kyuketsu. I think that story, Twilight River, is already far better written than Out of the Ashes. Out of the Ashes gets really messy sometimes and I just post because if I wrote it, then that means I was feeling it at some point.**

 **I really want to do a Kinoe interlude soon, potentially next chapter. The problem is Kinoe just knows so much more than Fushicho and he pulls way more strings than she expects.**

 **Originally, there was a rant about negative reviews here but I think the positive reviews I read while reading those made me feel much better about them. If you did read the initial rant, then I'm sorry it was there. It was long and I tried my hardest to explain how I felt, but I'm a talker by nature and feel like I made more of a big deal than I should have considering how AMAZING all of you reading are. 3 If you want to know what was said: I was disappointed by the negative reviews I've received being worded more aggressive and hostile than I would like for constructive criticism. I then explained I am a faulty writer as I forget plot points, mischaracter characters, and etc. I also pointed out Fushicho is intentionally an unreliable, oblivious narrator.**

 **Fun fact : This chapter was initially named In Which Fushicho Is Sad while I was writing it. I needed a placeholder name.**

 **Thanks to the following for reviewing (:**

 **avada96  
NotWeird (HOW DID I NOT SEE UR REVIEW, I LOVE IT)  
Girl-luvs-manga  
XxPrincessKanjixX**


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